Martin O'Neill feels Brian Clough will be delighted seeing him take charge of Sunderland.

O'Neill smiled when asked how 'Old Big 'Ead', the former Mackems striker he won the European Cup with at Nottingham Forest in 1980, would have reacted to his appointment.

He said: "I can see him now. I never once phoned him for advice because I know what he would have said.

"He'd have said 'You got yourself into this mess, you've got to get yourself out of it' followed by 'You'd never have done it as good as me anyway unless you win a trophy'."