REGIS LE BRIS has described the stellar form that saw him crowned Championship Manager of the Month for August as “just a start” - and is excited by the thought of where his Sunderland side could progress to during his tenure at the Stadium of Light.

Le Bris’ first month in English football ended with the presentation of the first managerial award of the season yesterday, with the Sky Bet judging panel handing the Sunderland boss the honour in recognition of a perfect start to the season that saw the Black Cats win their opening four league games.

Having been presented with the trophy at the Academy of Light, Le Bris was quick to hail the honour as a “collective success”, praising his players and fellow coaches.

He also stressed the importance of remaining grounded at such an early stage of the season, but was quick to highlight the scale of the potential within his squad.

“My reaction is that I am happy and proud,” said Le Bris, who moved to Wearside after two seasons in charge of French club Lorient. “It wasn’t easy to change country and to have a new experience like this at a big club like Sunderland. The welcome was incredible, and then the connection with the team, the staff and the people in the building was very impressive.

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“I think it is a collective success. It’s not only a manager, a coach or a player – we have been working together for 11 weeks now and the connection has been very good. Their experience before and my experience before has been able to meet very well. It has been a good match. But it is just a start.”

Nevertheless, having left his homeland to take over at a club that was on its knees after a dreadful second half of last season, Le Bris accepts it was important to hit the ground running.

“I think it is very important for a manager, a team and a club to start well because that means the dynamic is good for the confidence,” he said. “When you are confident, you can take more risks and learn from your experiences.

“It is harder to do that when you have many losses. So, this start has been important, but it is just four games. We know that we will have a long journey. This Championship is very interesting, but very tough. We will see what happens.”

Le Bris does not want to look too far into the future, but having inherited one of the youngest squads in the Championship, the 48-year-old is excited by what the rest of the season might have in store.

“The potential is really exciting because there is a real willingness to improve,” he said. “With young players, we don’t really have previous games to be able to see where they can improve. That almost makes it more exciting.

“When this feeling is within a group, it is very exciting to see how they can grow and develop. Something completely unpredictable could happen – good or bad. But the best case is definitely possible, and that is exciting.”