New Sunderland coach Steve Guppy is happy to be working again with manager Martin O'Neill.

Guppy is not surprised to see the likes of Adam Johnson and Steven Fletcher coming in to work with the Northern Irishman.

"There are so many things - his will to win and ability to inspire confidence, which is not an easy thing," said Guppy, who was a key player under O'Neill at Leicester City and Celtic, to safc.com.

"Sometimes when you get praised by someone it doesn't feel quite as much as when someone else does it. It's hard to explain.

"The manager is great at instilling confidence - look at the players he's brought through in the past and got the best out of.

"I think that played a big part in attracting players like Adam Johnson to the club."