DAN NEIL has outlined his immense pride at captaining his hometown club and praised Sunderland’s senior players for enabling him to slip seamlessly into his new role.

Regis Le Bris appointed Neil as Sunderland’s new team captain earlier this summer, with Luke O’Nien retaining his club captaincy role as part of a new senior leadership group.

Trai Hume, Dan Ballard, Alan Browne and Jobe Bellingham were all handed added responsibilities, but it is Neil who has been wearing the armband on the pitch since the start of the season.

The 22-year-old Wearsider was a boyhood Sunderland fan, and readily admits he would be cheering the side on from the stands had he not made it as a professional footballer.

His pride at leading his local team remains as strong as ever, although he accepts the transition to taking over as captain would have been much more difficult had he not had the support and assistance of the senior players around him.

“It's a massive honour and I don't take it lightly,” said Neil, when asked about how it feels to captain Sunderland. “Whenever I'm walking the lads out on a match day, speaking in the huddle before the game and speaking after the game.

“Like I said, it's a massive honour and it's something that I dreamed of for a long time growing up and there's still loads of stuff I need to learn about the captaincy.

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“Luke O'Nien has been brilliant with me, especially off the pitch. I think, on the pitch, in terms of being vocal and organising and the tactical side of things, I feel like that's one of my strengths anyway, but off-the-pitch stuff, I'm just going to grow into that role and I need people to help me along with that.

“So, the coaching staff and Luke, and the experienced boys, they’re not just leaving everything up to me because I’m wearing the armband. We’ve got a really good leadership group within the squad and everyone’s doing their bit.”

Le Bris has been keen to give added responsibilities to the leaders within his squad, especially when it comes to in-match management, and has been impressed with the way his senior players have developed their ability to adjust quickly within a game.

“For me, from probably the last five, six, seven games, I feel that we are more agile to adjust little details according to how the game is evolving to keep our level,” said the Black Cats boss. “This is satisfying for me.

“We are not perfect, but for example, I liked when (Oxford) changed their shape at half-time (in last weekend’s game) and we only had two or three minutes to adjust our pressing. We did it.

“Maybe, in the past, when there is a change like this, we can struggle for longer and you can lose your shape. It wasn't the case. I can feel now that we are more versatile according to how the game is going.”