Everything Alex Neil said about Jermain Defoe, Ross Stewart speculation, Nathan Broadhead and Alex Pritchard ahead of Gillingham test

That brings us to the end of the broadcast section of the press conference, but Neil has also spoken to the written press, including our SAFC writer Phil Smith.

You can find more from the Black Cats boss, as well as build-up to Saturday’s game over on the Sunderland AFC section of the Echo website.

See you soon.

The simple fact is I’ve got the Sunderland fans, Sunderland community, Sunderland the club as a whole to concern with.

The fact is that Ross has done really well for us and the simple fact is if we can make progress and try to get ourselves out of this league then naturally players will want to be here and play here.

It really is as simple as that.

He’s our contracted player, he’s done well but he’s done well having been given a chance at this club, and I’m sure he will be respectful of that as well.

I’m not worrying about the remaining games thinking that if I don’t win them then Ross might see his future elsewhere, or any other player for that matter.

That doesn’t even cross my mind at this moment.

I think there has been a fundamental change there since Neil Harris has gone in.

I have probably watched five games. I was at the game on Saturday against Accrrington when they beat them, I watched them against Sheffield Wednesday when the drew 0-0.

I watched them against Ipswich, against us the last time we played them.

They are a difficult team to beat and haven’t conceded a lot of goals. Defensively they have been strong and they have a threat in transition on the counter attack.

They are the things we need to guard against and make sure we try and perform well to create as many opportunities as we can.

Alex and Nathan have been making really good progress this week and they’ve been out training on the grass,” Neil said.

We’ll make a late call on them in terms of Saturday’s game.

On McGeady’s fitness: Aiden is a question mark in terms of whether he features between now and the end of the season,” Neil admitted.

It’ll really be determined by how he goes in his rehab and how he shows up between now and the end of the season.

I’m hopeful that he’ll be able to get himself in some sort of semblance of managing to get on the pitch, but there’s certainly no pressure on him.

It’ll just be a case of whether he’s able to get himself up and running.

I think Jermain has obviously thought about it and it’s something he said to me that has been on his mind for a couple of weeks.

I think it would have been naturally better if we had sort pof discussed it and been more aware of it, but I think as a senior player you know when your time is up and he had got to that conclusion.

It is what it is and there is no point talking about it could have been this or it could have been that.

We are where we are and he has made that decision.

We just need to crack on and concentrate on the games remaining.

It’s difficult for me to comment because since I’ve been here Aiden hasn’t been fit.

Naturally we want him available to contribute between now and the end of the season because he’s got great qualities.

Unfortunately at the moment he’s not available for us.

I’m not going to sort of cry about what I haven’t got, I’m more focused on what I have got, but if you offered me Aiden between now and the end of the season to contribute I’d be delighted because it makes us stronger.

It did. That day we took training and Jermain trained fine, there were no issues.

There wasn’t even a conversation about it, obviously subsequently he did make me aware that it was on his mind for a couple of weeks.

The difficulty you’ve got is that an experienced player of a certain age, you get to a point where just believe you have run your race type thing.

It was a bit of a surprise, I have spoken to him since and he just thinks it’s the best thing for him and the right course of action which we have to respect.

Didn’t play much and won’t be a big loss?: I don’t think that is fair.

If you look at the previous matches we brought him on at crucial times of the games.

We brought him on at half-time in one of the matches that we won the match.

We gave him 65 minutes in the next game, and equally his experience in and around the changing room is alway going to be important.

He certainly serve a purpose and to say we won’t miss him I don’t think is fair on him or us.

To lose a guy of his experience and quality then there is going to be a bit of a gap there.

How good the break has been, we’ll see on Saturday.

I think the difficulty we’ve got is I think everyone thinks we have ten days to prepare for the next game.

The problem we’ve got at the moment is that we have four or five internationals that have all been away that have been regular starters for us.

The likes of Ross Stewart, Corry Evans, Bailey Wright, Callum Doyle, all them lads haven’t been here.

To get any work done really in terms of preparation for the game is extremely difficult because them lads haven’t been here.

It’s not as productive as what I think some people think.

Nathan Broadhead (hamstring) and Alex Pritchard (ankle) have both returned following injury setbacks and could be involved this weekend.

Defender Danny Batth, who was sidelined with an ankle issue, is also available again after playing 90 minutes for the under-23s side last week.

We’ll get a further update when Neil speaks to the media this morning, when the Black Cats boss will also be asked about Jermain Defoe’s decision to retire.