Sunderland's positive start a credit to the manager and players after staggering overhaul

Every summer, for many years now, there has been a major overhaul at the Stadium of Light but by any standards bringing in 12 new faces is a staggering amount.

When I was playing, which is a long time ago admittedly, it would be unusual to have half that amount of new signings in the summer, more likely a lot less, sometimes only two or three.

So the difference in the dressing room in years gone by must be so different to today, in that there must be almost more new faces than the old guard - which must make making a team that much harder.

So, under those circumstances the players and manager deserve credit for the good start so far.

Players staying even just two or three seasons at the same club now are becoming the exception, as the game has moved on with high turnovers in playing staff, especially in clubs nearer the bottom ends of leagues than the top.

Of the players Sunderland have bought in so far, not all will be a success, some will, some won’t and others no doubt will leave without us barely knowing they were here.

Some players may start well, then fade away, others might struggle at first but can become an unlikely success, you just don’t know and can only tell over a longer period of time.

However, rightly or wrongly, that won’t stop us from making instant judgements - me included - but every player who has been lucky enough to sign for Sunderland football club should know all the fans want is for them to succeed.

Sunderland haven’t had too many successful windows in seasons gone by, where so much money on transfer fees and wages has been utterly wasted.

Too many signings were just not good enough and even worse some seemed to be only on Wearside for a nice pay day and an easy ride.

Sam Allardyce’s January window a few years back has probably been Sunderland’s best with Kone, Kirchhoff and Khazri all fitting into Sam’s system, successfully and quickly so here is hoping Jack Ross’ major overhaul will have a similar effect.