SUNDERLAND managers of the past have come and gone on Wearside with varying degrees of success. Each boss will have had their own experiences, high points and downfalls but there is one universal opinion they will probably share. And that is that the Sunderland shirt is a heavy one to wear. 

The Black Cats slide down the divisions was nothing short of staggering at the time and even four years on from the slipping into League One, the magnitude and expectation of the club hasn't changed even slightly. 

With two games to go in their season starting against promotion chasing Rotherham United tonight, the pressure ramps up another notch as they look to nail down a play-off spot. But their opponents, who sit second in the table and have an automatic promotion spot in their sights, won't go easy.

If Alex Neil hadn't quite got to grips with the level of expectation at the club, he definitely has now. 

“Since I’ve walked in the door, everybody who speaks to me says how big the next game is" he said. 

"The simple fact is when you’re at Sunderland, every game’s a big game because the expectancy from the club and the fans is that we win every match, and that’s fine. 

"I go into every game we play knowing we want to win, so we’ll be trying to win and trying to play as well as we can. It doesn’t change. 

"There’s certain teams where there might not be as much pressure or scrutiny, so when they come into big games, it’s a different type of moment for them. For us, we live and breath is every other day really because there’s that much scrutiny and expectation. We’re expected to win all the time, so we’re used to that really."

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For Neil as manager, he's steadied a rocky ship and started to instil belief in the fanbase. Their eleven match unbeaten run was extended at the weekend by hammering Cambridge United 5-1 and Sunderland are hitting form at the right time.

An enthralling night of football is in store with both teams ready to leave everything they have on the pitch for a place in the Championship. 

Earlier in the season, the Millers carried out a humiliating result against the Black Cats drumming them 5-0 at the New York Stadium which was a result that surprised many. 

However, manager Paul Warne knows they face a different prospect at the Stadium of Light as he said: “They’ve done really well and Alex is a great manager, too. He’s really well experienced and at a club that won’t phase him.

“He’s got a team that wants to win and the fans are right behind him. Winning seven games out of 10 in any league is some going.

“They’ve got confidence and goals in their team and they will be full of confidence. It’ll be a tough game, but – respectfully – I feel like Alex will be thinking the same about us.

“As a player, I’d be thinking ‘brilliant’, playing against a great club, with both teams wanting to win. These are the games you want to play in.

“We go into it in reasonable form and we just have to try and compete. From my point of view it’s an honour to manage a team in that stadium and we want the lads to go out and express themselves and hopefully come away with a win."