Dan Neil gives fascinating insight into his changing Sunderland role and explains why the future is bright

Dan Neil was 'desperate' to get back to the Academy of Light and get going all over again.

Desperate to build first and foremost on a campaign that went better than anyone had expected, and also to try and put to rest that little bit of lingering frustration at how it all ended.

Though injuries meant it was a physical and more specifically an aerial mismatch at Kenilworth Road, Neil still feels it could have been different.

All the same, it has been encouraging to see that lack of height addressed over the summer and Neil has a broad grin: He can take up a place on the edge of the box when defending corners, rather than finding himself right in the thick of it.

"I think you can see it was something that the club saw we needed to improve on," he says.

"You've got Nectar, Jobe, Hemir, Jenson... they're all well above 6ft. Hopefully I won't be marking any strikers this season."

The idea, of course, is that the core of last season's impressive side can pick up where they left off and those extra ingredients can then help the club maintain their upward trajectory.

One thing for sure is that Neil will be at the very heart of it all. It can be easy to forget that he began last season with his place far from secure, and yet he ended it with 50 appearances. Not only that, but so many of those were in the holding midfield role that a year before would almost certainly have been beyond him.

A key factor in Sunderland's eventual sixth place finish was that because of Neil's capacity to adapt the loss of Corry Evans, while keenly felt, didn't leave his side as exposed as initially feared.

In pre season, though, there has been a subtle but significant switch in Sunderland's play.

Neil has a little more freedom to break forward, building an understanding with Pierre Ekwah that will see a lot more fluidity in the middle of the park.

Having had to rein himself in for the team's sake, Neil will be back on the trail for goals and assists from Sunday onwards.

"I think there'll definitely be more of that this year," he explains.

"When we lost Corry I definitely became that kind of senior midfielder and I kind of had to change my role a little bit. It was Pierre and Edu's first season in senior football really and I definitely felt I had to kind of take on that Corry role. It is a massive role and to be honest, I didn't realise how important it was until I played it. I probably took Corry for granted, just bombing forward in front of him.

"Corry has been brilliant. even while he had his injury. I always speak to him after games, he is always giving me little pointers because obviously I was playing in his role last year.

"I think stepping in definitely has added another string to my bow, but we've definitely worked on that partnership. I've played a lot of games with Pierre now so I trust that if I break forward, he's going to sit and vice versa. I think we've built a good partnership on and off the pitch.

"Pierre is really exciting, he's got a wand of a left foot and he can bring that big physical presence, as well. He can run and its going to be a big year for him. He finished really well last season and it's time now for him to step up really and become a leader in the team as well.

"Hopefully we can put it all into practice, starting Sunday."

It's not just on the pitch that Neil's role is developing, either. Though still just 21 the midfielder brought up his century of appearances in red-and-white last season, and is a prime example of the club's belief that experience and age do not necessarily correlate.

Sunderland's coaching staff are encouraging Neil to embrace a leadership role in the squad as his importance to the team continues to grow.

"There are a few lads older than me but I have been at the club for a very, very, long time," Neil says.

"I think this is my third or fourth year of first-team football here.

"I had a chat with Mike Dodds about this the other day and he said I've played over 100 games now, I'm not a young boy, I've played a lot more games than some 25-year-olds.

"He has had that conversation with me about taking on a more leadership role within the squad on and off the pitch.

"I get on with all the squad and I think that part of my game is speaking on the pitch, so it's definitely something I'm going to try and bring into my game more this year."

The million-dollar question for Sunderland is whether they will be able to build on last season's success in what looks, on paper at least, to be even stronger and more competitive Championship field this time around.

Though there is no complacency, the experience of last season has given a still young side genuine belief that they can compete with anyone on their day.

"It won't be easy but every Championship season is tough," Neil said.

"Last year we probably dropped points against teams you wouldn't have expected us to, but we probably picked up points against teams you wouldn't have expected us to as well.

"That's the Championship in a nutshell; anyone can beat anyone on the day.

"It is going to be tougher because three top class teams have come down and three really good teams have come up, but you'd probably go back to the start of last season when we had just come up from League One and no-one knew how we would do.

"We just have to take it in our stride, as we did last year.

"We have to use the fact that we finished sixth as a motivational tool and not just rest on our laurels because we had a good year.

"We have to use that, and the hurt from losing in the play-off semi-final, and work every day to better that because that is what the people of this club demand."