THE SUMMER of strife facing Sunderland will not diminish the playing staff's view that a Championship title surge is the number one target next season.

While Niall Quinn's consortium goes through the books and prepares a formal offer for the club, the uncertainty of who will be in charge of team affairs continues to rumble on.

Caretaker boss Kevin Ball looks to have taken charge of his last Sunderland game and a period of uncertainty is far from ideal for the likes of Kevin Kyle, Gary Breen, Grant Leadbitter and Martin Woods.

All four players are out of contract next month and free to move on, although Sunderland do have options over extending Kyle and Breen's existing deals by one year.

There will be interest from other clubs in Sunderland's players, with Ipswich Town already understood to have made contact with a view to taking Tommy Miller back to Portman Road.

But decisions are unlikely to be made until a new manager has been installed.

Goalkeeper Kelvin Davis says the fans can be assured Sunderland will be focused on achieving promotion next season.

"I can't talk about how the other lads view the summer because we don't even know who the manager is going to be," said Davis. "We don't want to be coming back for pre-season and still not knowing who the manager is going to be. The club will do what is right.

"What I can assure everyone is that every player who will be around next season will be staying positive and looking to make sure this club is back where it belongs, in the Premier League."

The Sunderland squad will be in today before taking their summer break.

Former manager Mick McCarthy had previously claimed this year's squad would be forced to train for an extra week had they not overtaken the 19 points they went down with in 2003.

But, as that is clearly not the case now, the main question is when they will be returning. Ball has told them to be back on June 26, but that could change if someone else is installed.

A number of names have been mentioned and Davis expects whoever does arrive to make changes to the pool of players.

The former Ipswich keeper, who has enjoyed an impressive end to the season, insists with a few tweaks the squad will be strong enough to challenge at the top of the Championship.

"We have got some great players at this club. We have young and experienced players, and when everyone is fit we have a squad strong enough to return to the Premiership," said Davis.

"No-one will scare us in the Championship. We all know what we are capable of and I would like to think this squad is stronger now than it was the season when they won promotion.

"But that will probably be the case for other clubs as well and there will be comings and goings, we know that.

"Like any club, we have to look to improve the squad over the summer."

Sunderland's final game of the season ended in exactly the manner in which the whole campaign back in the top-flight has gone.

They failed to build on Thursday's home win over Fulham at Villa Park, meaning they failed to earn successive wins in the Premiership this season - something they have not been able to do since December 2001.

Davis, who made a terrific save from Gareth Barry's spot-kick, admitted failing to give the thousands of travelling fans something to celebrate was annoying.

"We wanted to get back-to-back wins to have one, or two, good memories from our time in the Premiership," said Davis.

"All of us have been like any other team really who have ever been relegated. Once you know you are relegated you just want the summer to come so you can get on with things."

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