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Peter Reid knows as well as anyone what it takes to guide Sunderland into the higher reaches of English football.

The former Black Cats manager took Sunderland to successive seventh-place finishes in the Premier League in 2000 and 2001 — an achievement that was not repeated until last season.

Like Reid, Regis Le Bris followed promotion to the top flight with an immediate seventh-place finish. But unlike Reid’s side, this was enough to earn European football, giving Sunderland their first opportunity in continental competition since their European Cup Winners’ Cup campaign following the 1973 FA Cup triumph.

“I was absolutely delighted — to get to Europe is some achievement,” Reid told FourFourTwo. “It’s a great club and the supporters are unbelievable.

“I went to the Championship play-off final in 2025 — we won, amazing, but I was thinking we’d sort of scraped through and needed to get recruitment right to have any chance of staying up.”

A hectic summer followed the Black Cats’ Wembley victory 12 months ago, with more than £200 million spent on new signings, and Reid’s belief that the club needed to recruit well proved correct.

“I have to say, the recruitment last summer was fantastic,” he continued. “Nordi Mukiele was so strong at the back, and Brian Brobbey was so powerful up front — absolutely fearless.”

Perhaps the most significant addition made last summer was a player well known to long-time Premier League followers: the former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka.

“Then there was the class of Granit Xhaka in midfield. Boy, what a signing he was. Just the calmest, most authoritative player you could have found.

“I went to the game against Newcastle [that Sunderland won 1-0], and there was just this feeling inside the stadium that something special was happening.”

Despite last season’s success, a number of pundits are predicting Sunderland could find things difficult this season as they try to manage the demands of both domestic and European football.

“You can never tell how a club is going to get on with the balance of Premier League football and Europe,” Reid admitted. “Even though we’ve got the basis of a very good side that can compete against most clubs on our day, you need a deep squad.

“But I’m up there often and you can smell success in the air. The future is looking bright.”