MICK McCARTHY claims Sunderland's chances of returning to the Premiership will never be as strong as they are now.

The Black Cats are sitting fourth in the Division One table - just four points adrift of an automatic promotion place with 18 games to play.

Chairman Bob Murray revealed in Wednesday's Northern Echo SPORT that promotion to the top-flight after just one year away is paramount in the club's thoughts.

And now a confident McCarthy has underlined his belief that he must try to ensure Sunderland make a swift return or risk drifting even further down the Football League ladder - the fate suffered by Sheffield Wednesday and QPR in previous years.

"We may or may not go up but we don't know what the financial side will be next season so we have got the best chance to go up this season," said McCarthy, who could do little to halt the club's relegation from the Premiership when he took over in March.

"When a team goes down the feeling is always 'never mind we'll go straight back up'.

"But when you consider everything that has gone on around here most people think we have done well to be where we are.

"And, having done well, I think we have got our best chance to go up. If we don't then suddenly we have been out of the league for 12 months and we are still a First Division club - you can't get resigned to that fact, ever. You want that optimism around the place and that's the case at the moment.

"When we went down the word freefall was mentioned. It took a fair bit of moral strength for them to come through that. We did and that has pushed us on and up to fourth spot.

"And I think the players have shown they do care and they are passionate about the club."

Murray had to oversee a massive restructuring job in the summer after the massive blow of losing millions in dropping out of the Premiership.

The Sunderland chief, and his board, halved the wage bill to £17m - still the highest in Division One - and their fortunes have now changed with their debts now stabilised at around £38m.

And McCarthy, who was praised by the chairman for reinstalling 'team spirit' to a deflated squad, admits he has been hugely impressed by the way Murray has helped the club turn the corner.

"I understood when I took the job that changes were going to have to be made," said McCarthy, who has seen 25 players depart since taking.

"To be honest there were more changes needed than I actually thought. But that was probably because I was just looking forward to coming in and being the manager of Sunderland.

"The club have done remarkably and I have seen the chairman's comments this week. The club is now in a far more stable position and there have been a few clubs that haven't managed to do that.

"Relegation is a massive blow to any club and everyone at the club have worked hard to cope with that financially.

"And we are fourth in the league and I think it's to the players credit they have done as well as they have to come through that."

Three more players could yet move on before the end of the month. Michael Gray is on the verge of a move to Bolton, goalkeeper Thomas Myhre could seal a permanent deal at Crystal Palace and Michael Reddy is available.

Meanwhile, Sunderland midfielder Paul Thirlwell will miss tomorrow's trip to Ipswich Town in the FA Cup after breaking his nose nose in the reserves' 2-1 defeat to West Brom on Wednesday night. Marcus Stewart misses a return to his old club through suspension.

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