Sunderland director David Jones recalls his first meeting with Phil Parkinson and why he was so impressed

Jones was appointed as one of two new non-executive directors last month, with the club suffering a wretched run of form on the pitch.

They have since moved back to the brink of the play-off places, dropping out of the top six last night as Burton Albion edged past MK Dons with a 1-0 victory.

11 points from their last five games have raised hopes of a push for promotion in the second half of the season and Jones hopes it is a sign that the plan Parkinson outlined to him in their first meeting is coming to fruition.

“One of the first things that I did when I was appointed was I got up here straight away, I was here literally the day after,” he told BBC Newcastle.

“I was at the training ground meeting Phil Parkinson because I was aware of the public feeling towards him.

“My brother is a fan as well and comes regularly, as is my nephew.

“I wanted so sit across from Phil, face-to-face, to see what he was about.

“I have to say that he impressed me from the very first second.

“He had a plan, was very, very calm about all of the speculation.

“He went into a lot of detail about the issues that he was facing and the problems that he had encountered already, and he told me what he was going to do to get us where we needed to be,” he added.

“I've seen that over a period of weeks now, the last five performances certainly I've seen that improvement.

“He's been absolutely true to his word and I think people are starting to realise he's a very good operator.”

Jones is still establishing the full scope of his role, but is taking a keen interest in the club’s recruitment and says they are ‘far from done’ in the January window.

“I’ve been man-marking all the guys [in the recruitment department] and they are sick of the sight and sound of me,” he joked.

“We’re far from done in this window.”