Peter Reid today celebrates his sixth anniversary as Sunderland boss with a vision to make the Wearsiders as big as Manchester United.

It looked an impossible dream in March, 1995 when Reid inherited a team poised perilously on the brink of the second division.

But Sunderland prepare to face Leeds on Saturday with the lure of a Champions' League place at stake.

Reid's initial contract was for six weeks and his brief was simple - to keep the fallen giants in the first division. He succeeded so well that Sunderland are currently fourth in the Premiership and Reid is in talks on a five-year deal worth an estimated £7.5m, which will make him one of the top-paid managers in the country.

The 44-year-old proved his pedigree by taking the club to seventh last season - their highest finish in 46 years - but he won't be satisfied until the Black Cats are clawing at the Reds.

That ambition will come a step closer next season with the opening of the state-of-the-art Academy site on Whitburn Moor.

"There are no quick fixes in football," he said. "I want Sunderland to be a successful team like Manchester United. And if we are to move in that direction we have to get players coming through the ranks - just as United have done with the likes of Ryan Giggs and David Beckham.

"That's why the Academy will play a massive part in the future."

Chairman Bob Murray backed his gut instinct when he turned to Reid six years ago to guide Sunderland out of a huge mess following a slide to fifth bottom and two points off relegation.

Reid, out of work after being sacked by Manchester City, answered by steering the club to three wins, three draws and one solitary defeat to stave off disaster.

Whatever else he may achieve in the game, Reid knows he won't face a tougher challenge.

"When I came, the chairman said I had seven games to keep the club in the first division," he recalled. "That was the length of my first contract, with the promise we would talk about a longer deal if I managed it.

"That was the most difficult time - even more difficult than winning promotion in my first full season. The biggest achievement was to keep Sunderland up.

""But if somebody had told me six years ago we'd be where we are now, I wouldn't have believed them."

l Inter-Milan are poised to wreck Sunderland's bid to sign Inter Bratislava striker Szilard Nemeth. The 23-year-old is having talks with the Italian club and is expected to join them next season after holding talks with Reid earlier this month.