MICK McCarthy is confident that his job will not be on the line when Sunderland look to kickstart their season at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium this afternoon.

The Black Cats are firmly entrenched in the bottom half of the Championship table after winning just one of their opening six league games.

A similarly slow start last term left Sunderland with too much ground to make up on the top two and, with leaders Wigan already nine points clear of the Wearsiders, there are fears that history could be repeating itself.

Most fans are prepared to give McCarthy time for his summer signings to settle but, with his side having lost all three of their away games this season, the grumblings of discontent will intensify if that run is extended this afternoon.

The Black Cats boss knows he must start picking up points soon but, with 40 league games still to play, is unconcerned about his own position being called into question.

"I felt under pressure last year when we were in the top six," said McCarthy, who was being linked with the vacant managerial job at Blackburn Rovers earlier this week.

"And of course when you are down near the bottom six it intensifies.

"It's not a position anybody wants to be in but, in terms of me feeling pressure with regard to my job, I think that's a bit premature.

"With regards to the result, it's absolutely true that the pressure's on, but I think the financial implications of being in the Premier League create the situation that we have today.

"It affects us. We're not in the Premier League but we've lost financial status because of our relegation in the past and people are very scared of that."

The managerial merry-go-round has been in full swing already this season with Sir Bobby Robson and Paul Sturrock having left Premiership posts and Craig Brown having parted company with Sunderland's Championship rivals, Preston.

Even Sven-Goran Eriksson was finding his job called into question earlier this week after England's World Cup campaign got off to an uninspiring start in Austria.

A manager's lot has never been more precarious but, while McCarthy feels this season's dismissals have been somewhat unjustified, he accepts that criticism is part and parcel of the job.

"I think that doing it after four or five games - six in my case - is a bit silly and a bit kneejerk," he said. "But that's the way football's gone.

"That's just the way it is and, whenever it happens, we all say the usual things. But we've all got a job to do and, in a bizarre sort of way, we accept it.

"The downside is that when things aren't going well you get pilloried and you do get some abuse. But you also know that, if you have faith in your ability, you can always turn it around.

"It's important to enjoy your successes because you are guaranteed to get it in the neck when it's not going well."

As if McCarthy did not have enough on his plate, he goes into this afternoon's game with four players suspended following a police investigation into an alleged shooting incident.

Three of them would not have got near the first-team squad anyway but a fourth, Chris Brown, could have made the bench and the subsequent furore has created a distraction he could well have done without.

"I'd like to be top of the league and I'd like not to have four players under disciplinary procedures," said McCarthy. "I find it hard to give my personal position because of an internal inquiry that's going on.

"I think we've seen from the club's response how seriously this is being taken, but if we were top of the league, the incident might have come and gone and it wouldn't have affected morale as much as it has."

There was some better news yesterday when McCarthy's interminable search for a striker finally came to an end.

Leeds United youngster Simon Johnson has signed a one-month loan deal with the Black Cats and goes straight into the squad for this afternoon's game in Kent.

The 21-year-old made his Leeds debut under Peter Reid two seasons ago in the latter stages of a 6-1 win at Charlton, and went on to make a further five top-flight appearances last term.

He has failed to break into Kevin Blackwell's first team though and, despite finishing last season as the top scorer in the FA Premier Reserves League, Leeds have been willing to release him to one of their supposed promotion rivals.

Johnson is likely to start on the bench against Gillingham, although he could find himself in the starting line-up if Kevin Kyle's long-standing hip problem continues to trouble him.

Kyle failed to appear in Scotland's goalless draw with Slovenia on Wednesday night and has not trained since Sunderland's 1-0 defeat to Reading 11 days ago.

Two scans and an injection have failed to solve the problem, with Kyle experiencing more pain in his hip this week.

"He wants it resolved," admitted McCarthy. "He wants an end to feeling in pain and he wants an end to playing and not training.

"It's ongoing unfortunately and the injection has clearly not resolved the problem to the extent that we would have hoped.

"It's not cleared it up and the problem's still there.

"Kevin's trying to get through it, but he's having difficulties."

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