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QUINNY HAS 'GOOD FEELING'


Niall Quinn has previewed the Wycombe match and is very optimistic about our chances. He has talked about supporting the Lads with his son, how he sees the opposition and has heaped praise on the calm presence of Alex Neil.


JOURNEY

"The journey that the club has been on in recent years, it just opens the door to anything you can achieve afterwards, if you can find a way to win then the sky's the limit. Mind, I don't want to go too far here at all, my friends will be sending me WhatsApp's saying that's we've been here before, this is what's got us into trouble in the past! I won't go to Trafalgar, because every time I've done that we've lost the next day! So maybe that will help."


SON

"But my son and I will be there on the day. He will often say to me, 'could you have not made me follow City or Arsenal? Why Sunderland?' He knows he made the decision himself really, it's where he was born. To be honest, he probably wants it even more than me. It's going to be a good day out and I do have a good feeling about it."


NERVES

"You don't want to be sat next to me or in front of me. I'll be jumping, headbutting, kicking every ball, you name it. I'm glad that we've got a manager who is cool, who won't have his team anywhere near as nervous in the stands. All Sunderland fans are the same, there's going to be emotion and drama. It's going to be a big task for our guys but I like what Alex Neil has done, I like the mood they're in, it's not cocky but there's no fear either."


PROFFESIONALISM

"It's a solid, professional tone. I really, really enjoyed the manager's interview after Sheffield Wednesday, because people can lose themselves a little bit in the aftermath of winning a semi final and we've seen that in some other games recently as well. In that moment you can be forgiven for being dramatic, for being overcome, and his interview I think just showed us a glimpse of his dressing room. I think this is a more solid, professional dressing room than has been in place for quite a while and that augurs well. The players don't seem to be playing with a burden, they're playing with a passion and for each other."


DARE TO HOPE

"That's why Sunderland fans can dare to hope again, even despite the record the club has in these games. There's something different about what Alex Neil has done. Of course we know that it can fall flat, that praise can be reversed quickly if you don’t deliver [when it matters], but there’s nothing to make me think this group won’t go and do the club justice.”


LATE GOALS

"You have the first couple of weeks of his tenure and then all of a sudden these late goals are starting to appear. There's a bit of joy in the air but it's still tricky because all the teams around them are winning, and nothing was certain right up until the last very game in terms of getting into the play-offs in the first place."


FORM

"What was fascinating was the drama that was being created by these late goals was being offset by Alex's post-match interviews, which gave the impression that it was bound to happen, that it wasn't a fluke. That's the way the players are preparing, and we'll do more of this. Sunderland are going into the game in form, the fans are going down knowing they have a team in better shape than any Sunderland team for probably seven or eight years."


WYCOMBE

"The level is different and I appreciate it, but I just feel that... I have huge respect for Wycombe and their manager Gareth Ainsworth is a rockstar in his own right, he's a huge presence and influence and he'll have his say on Saturday, but I just feel and hope that everything Sunderland have been through, for the fans to have stayed loyal and got stronger during that journey, it could be the day for them."