SUNDERLAND past and present collide at Highfield Road this evening, and Mick McCarthy has warned Peter Reid to expect a mixed reception from the club's travelling fans.

But the Black Cats boss has insisted that Reid should be remembered for the good times as well as the bad ahead of tonight's televised clash with Coventry.

The opening game of the new Coca-Cola Championship season pits Reid against his former employers for the first time since he left the Stadium of Light in October 2002.

The former England international enjoyed eight rollercoaster seasons after replacing Mick Buxton in the Wearside hotseat, leading Sunderland to two promotions to the top-flight but also suffering relegation once and hastening the demise that culminated in last year's all-time Premiership points low.

Many Sunderland fans blame Reid for the financial meltdown that saw more than 20 senior professionals forced out of the club last summer, and most are set to voice their opinions when the Coventry boss walks to the home dug-out tonight.

McCarthy has been forced to deal with the fallout caused by Sunderland's previous financial excess and has not paid a cash fee for any player during his 17 months at the club.

But, with the heartbreak of last year's play-off disappointment still fresh in his mind, he has urged Sunderland's travelling support not to forget the way in which Reid built the club up in the first place.

"I just think people should look at what Reidy did and what he achieved," said McCarthy, who will give late fitness tests to both Kevin Kyle and Julio Arca before finalising his team for tonight's game. "Then they should make their own minds up.

"As someone from the outside looking in when I was the Irish manager, I used to watch the players that were here and I thought his achievements were really top class.

"But I'm not bothered how the fans react to Peter - I don't give a fiddlers because it's not up to me.

"It's like when an old player returns to a club. You ask the fans not to boo him so that's the first thing they do.

"It doesn't make a blind bit of difference what I say.

"I'm sure they asked the fans to give me a warm welcome at Millwall last year and look what happened there!

"I know how I'll receive him though - with a warm handshake and a hug because he's a great guy and a great mate of mine."

McCarthy is set to give senior debuts to at least two of his summer signings with Stephen Caldwell partnering Gary Breen at the heart of defence and Stephen Elliott poised to link up with Marcus Stewart in attack in the likely absence of Kyle.

Carl Robinson will also play his first game as a full-time Sunderland player after turning his loan deal into a permanent one this summer but, while McCarthy has also added Liam Lawrence, Dean Whitehead and Mark Lynch to his ranks, he has not made the kind of wholesale changes he was forced into last summer.

There is a sense of continuity that was sorely lacking 12 months ago and, after missing out on automatic promotion by just seven points last season, the Black Cats boss is happy to have avoided more large-scale upheaval.

"I feel a lot more settled," admitted McCarthy.

"Don't forget that the team that played here last season was a good side. It finished third, got to the semi-final of the FA Cup, and lost in the semi-final of the play-offs.

"Some of those players have left, but the lads that are here had a good season last year and it's important we don't forget that.

"There was a massive turnaround in pre-season last season and that hasn't really happened this summer.

"There's hardly been masses of players coming and going.

"We've brought six players in and I'm pleased with them all, but they'll have to fight for their place in the side like everybody else."

Sunderland slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest in their opening game of last season, before rallying to mount a sustained promotion push that ended in May's play-off defeat to Crystal Palace.

With the club's parachute payment for dropping out of the Premiership due to end this season, promotion is vital if more cost-cutting is not to be on the agenda next summer.

The Black Cats start the season as fourth favourites for the title but, with the likes of Leicester, Wolves, Leeds and West Ham around, this year's Championship race looks like being as tight as ever.

"Nobody was tipping Norwich at the start of last season and yet they'd just lost in the play-offs the year before," said McCarthy.

"So you've got to still look at Ipswich and West Ham and you've got to still look at us. We're always going to be a threat.

"We know that Wolves have come down with parachute payments and they might be strong, and Leicester have signed everybody that we wanted.

"There are also teams like Sheffield United that will be strong again, just because of the way Neil Warnock will have them organised.

"Everybody will be looking at those teams, but I don't doubt that there'll be somebody that emerges and surprises everybody. It's always the way."

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