MIKE Dodds has been in this position before. This time, though, it's very different.

Turn back the clock to February, 2022 and Dodds was asked to take interim charge of Sunderland after the sacking of Lee Johnson.

It didn't go to plan. The Black Cats lost 2-1 to Doncaster and lowly Cheltenham Town, two desperately poor results and damaging for a side chasing promotion to the Championship.

In came Alex Neil and up Sunderland went. And in the 22 months that have since passed, Dodds has learnt an awful lot from first Neil and then Tony Mowbray.

He looks back now and admits he wasn't ready at the time to take charge of Sunderland's first team, even if it was on a temporary basis. He hardly knew any of the first team players and admits, with hindsight, that he was too "naive".

Now, though, Dodds feels ready. And he believes he has a point to prove, not inside the club, where he says he has the respect of the players having worked closely with the first team but to those looking in from the outside.

"People might say I do, people might say I don't, my personal opinion is I do have a point to prove," said the 37-year-old, as he prepares to lead Sunderland against West Brom on Saturday and, in all likelihood, Leeds on Tuesday night.

"I don't feel the last time I took the team was a fair reflection of my ability, but I also understand that when you get elevated into this position you're going to be scrutinised for every detail.

"Internally if you ask the players I don't think I have anything to prove. Internally I have the respect of the group, I've done a huge amount of work with them over the past 15 months with Tony and prior to that with Alex. I don't feel I have anything to prove internally, it's more externally."

READ MORE:

Dodds was more than happy to look back on his last stint in charge and speak openly about what he thinks went wrong.

"The biggest thing from my point of view, and I won't go into all the details, but the context was completely different in that I'd been at the football club three or four months, I was living in a hotel, I'd gone from working with the young players to the first team and the reality was I hadn't even had a conversation with most of the first team players," he says.

"I was naive with some of the decisions I made. I think since that point there's been over 100 games, I've worked with two of the most experienced managers in the Championship who are completely different characters. And I'm human but I like to think I'm quite intelligent in breaking down what I've done well and what I haven't done well and piece the jigsaw together.

"This time I have a relationship with the players, I trust them and they trust me. Internally the context is completely different.

"What happens is when you work with someone like Tony and give your opinion and he gives you validation, it builds your confidence. It was the same with Alex.

"Piecing all those things together, I'm a different person to two years ago. The core is the same in terms of values and beliefs, but in terms of burying what happened I think that's really important for me because I back myself as a coach.

"I don't mean that arrogantly, but I do back myself and I hope the outcome is different."

Mowbray was extremely popular with the players but Dodds doesn't have any concerns about a negative reaction from the players after the exit of a manager so liked and admired.

"If I sensed that at the start of the week, it would have been quashed," he said.

"I haven't had to quash anything like that. They've been thoroughly professional and they're in a really good spot to get a positive result on Saturday."