Phil Smith: The key mantra guiding Alex Neil at Sunderland amid talk of Burnley interest

The Scot is fascinating and often unusually detailed on tactical and footballing matters but the cornerstone of his tenure so far has been to worry about only what is immediately on the horizon.

One of his first steps after taking over was to address his players, many of whom see their contracts or loan deals expire at the end of the season. Park all of that, he said. Focus on making this a successful end to the campaign and if you do, then you will be in a stronger position when you come to weigh up your next steps.

The same, it is fair to say, applies to Neil himself and so at this stage you can be quite sure that Burnley's interest in his situation has not crossed his radar and will not do so for some time yet.

The Sun reported on Sunday that the Clarets will add Neil to their shortlist if they are relegated from the Premier League. With interim boss Mike Jackson taking ten points form his first five matches, right now 'if' is the crucial word.

That Neil would be of interest makes total sense, he achieved promotion with Norwich City and despite a disappointing end, outperformed his modest budget three times by keeping Preston North End in contention for the play-offs.

Given Sunderland's rapidly improving form, his stock could have risen even higher by the time the summer rolls around.

Neil's tunnel vision means that at this stage, it is impossible to predict how things will develop on Wearside this summer. He himself says he has 'complete clarity' on what would need to happen to this team this summer, in the case of promotion or otherwise.

What we don't know at this point is whether it aligns with the planning being done by Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman, because Neil has made absolutely clear that those discussions will wait for season-end.

Neil, remember, signed a short-term, 12-month rolling contract on arrival in February.

Right across the club, whether this campaign ends in play-off glory or not, there is going to be significant soul-searching to be done and key decisions to be made.

That flows right from Kyril Louis-Dreyfus himself and his bid to acquire a greater shareholding in the club all the way to the academy where, for example, a new U23 boss will need to be hired.

Neil has impressed in taking a club in tumult both externally and internally, and unifying it around one goal: promotion.

Until that goal is achieved or otherwise you can say with total confidence that the though of his own future will have barely crossed his mind.

On Saturday he spoke of relishing the battle ahead this week, particularly after spending nine months out of work. He also referenced his love for working with this group of players, the kind of admission you suspect he does not make lightly.

It's still all about the next game, then the one after that, and then hopefully the one after that, after that and then after that.

Until then, everything and everyone else will just have to wait.