SUNDERLAND skipper Michael Gray last night made an impassioned plea to the stars in the team not to jump ship during the summer.

For after a disappointing season, when Premiership safety was not achieved until the very last game, the former England full-back believes that Peter Reid's men are ready to bounce back to the form which earned them two top-seven placings in the previous campaigns.

There has been considerable speculation that top performers like leading 13-goal leading scorer Kevin Phillips, Danish international goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen and even the long-serving Gray might be looking for pastures new.

But local-lad Gray made it clear that he is prepared to battle on in a red-and-white shirt - and he urged the men around him to follow suit.

He said: "If you want to leave this club you have got to go to the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal or Leeds United.

"Here you are playing at the best stadium in the country and you have got the best fans in the country - you have to ask yourself if it is a step down to leave this club.

"I know everyone in the dressing room is very, very happy - we have a great dressing room and we want to keep everyone together.

"The players I have spoken to all want to stay here and that's great for next season."

And Gray has given his whole-hearted backing to manager Reid, whose critics in the crowd gave vent to their feelings after the draw against Derby County by once again chanting for his head.

But Gray - the only player left at the club since Reid took over the reins seven years ago - insisted that Reid will come good.

Asked if he thought there would be comings and goings this summer he replied: "That's not for me to say - it is the manager's decision.

"He brought in the players he wanted at this club and you have got to give him credit - the team is full of international now.

"Six or seven years ago that wasn't even dreamt of.

"He's an ambitious manager and in my eyes I think he is one of the top five in the Premiership and I am certain he is going to prove that next season."

Gray held up his hands and admitted the team had under-achieved this season.

He said: "It is unfortunate because no-one wants to play badly. When you go out there in front of 48,000 people who come to watch you week in and week out they want to see an entertaining game of football.

"We haven't really given them that this season.

"But to be honest they have been magnificent for us - to turn out like that week in and week out they are second to none and that's why people throughout the country rightly say that they are the best."

Gray admitted his relief that things had worked out for Sunderland on the final day of the season.

He said: "It is a nice feeling to be still in the Premiership - a club of this size, with the fan-base we have and the ambition of the whole place, we should be fighting at the other end of the table and not the bottom.

"That's something we have got to put right in the summer - we know we have under-achieved as players so we have got to get that right next season."

He added: "I think it has been a blip right the way through the season.

"I know you can blame your tools but the pitch at the Stadium of Light has not helped us when you are trying to play good football.

"After the first three or four games of the season I think the pitch was awful - after that we couldn't play the football we wanted to.

"We have gone out on the final day of the season and it looks like Wembley and everyone saw how well we played.

"When we get it down we can play some great stuff - we played some good attacking football against Derby and it was enjoyable to play.

"It has been very, very difficult over the last weeks because you are forever looking at the table hoping that the teams below you are losing and after finding yourself mid-table at Christmas time you start to slip down the league and it's not a nice feeling.

"There's no way of getting out of it now because it's on television 24 hours a day, people are talking about it all the time and while you try to put it to the back of your mind you just can't do it - that's why it is such a pressure game.

"We've just got to get a good start next season like we did in the previous two and go on from there."

Gray revealed that he had been troubled by sciatica for most of the season, but was relieved to know that he would not need surgery to cure his lower back problem.

He said: "For about 20 games I have been carrying an injury but I didn't like to miss games when maybe I should have done and perhaps next season I will have to look after myself a bit more.

"Eventually I had to miss three or four games which I didn't want to do because I was part of the team which had got us into this situation and I wanted to be part of trying to get us out of it.

"I don't need surgery but I need a complete rest for three or four weeks during the summer so I can get down to the nitty gritty next season.