Simon Grayson discusses his Sunderland future ahead of two crucial home games

Chief executive Martin Bain offered his support to the beleaguered Sunderland manager on Monday, but stopped short of giving Grayson his unequivocal backing.

Home games against Bristol City (tomorrow) and Bolton (Tuesday) are seens as pivotal by many fans to his future and, while Grayson is fully aware of his precarious position, the Black Cats’ boss says he has what it takes to get out of it.

Grayson said: “I don’t need to see what’s gone on here in the past, I see it every day in the managerial world with people losing their jobs and what have you.

“But all I do is keep working at what I’m doing.

“There’s nobody at this football club working harder than me to get results – I’m in here every morning at 7.15am and I usually leave about 7pm.

“You have to do whatever is required to get results.

“That’s what I do at football clubs – I work hard and that’s why I get success.

“I’ve been through these situations and come through the other side and won games.

“What I’ll be doing is no different in terms of what we’re doing with the players because I believe they’re the right things.

“It’ll be no different if we win eight on the trot, because I’ve had these philosophies with me throughout my career and they’ve proved successful.

“I’ll get results and that’s the only way to stop people talking about certain situations.”

The Sunderland boss had praise for high-flying Bristol City ahead of Saturday’s game but believes that the Championship table is still far from conclusive at this stage.

He said: “I’ve played them a lot in the Championship and League One – they’ve got consistency in the ownership, he’s put a lot of money in and been consistent with his managers.

“Lee (Johnson) was under a lot of pressure last year – I think they lost eight or nine in a row – but they stuck with him and are reaping the rewards.

“But I keep saying, it isn’t where teams are right now, those teams in the top six can still easily finish in the bottom three.

“I can guarantee that won’t be the same top six come the end of the season and it’s the same at the bottom.

“We want to build on these last three draws.

“If someone had said we’d go to Preston and Brentford – who are good teams – and be unbeaten, we would have taken that.

“Of course, we would have liked to have beaten QPR because we felt that was a good opportunity.

“But if we could remain unbeaten for the next three games suddenly that’s a good little run you are on, albeit we want to have at least a couple of victories in there.

“People can turn stats any way they want.

“Positive people like me will say it’s three games unbeaten. Others will say you have haven’t won.”