Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn says manager Ricky Sbragia will stay in charge if they beat the drop.

He told Setanta Sports: "I think Ricky came in for those few games before he got the job permanently and it was amazing. We just felt that he brought exactly what was needed at that time.

"Naturally there was a state of shell-shock around Roy's (Keane) time, and we had a difficult period running up to that day he left.

"We were really at a crossroads when it could all have gone horribly wrong for us, and Ricky calmed the situation down and brought his professionalism in which was a different type to Roy's.

"Different ways in performance, Ricky got people smiling again. He got the players to believe in themselves.

"I think if we do stay up it will be a colossal achievement by him to come in to a team who were in the bottom three that had just lost three home games.

"If you just think about it economically, (if) we know that we're staying up then Ricky would've been responsible for that so we would reward him, or be inclined over the next three years at where the club is going. I would love nothing more than to reward him with a big old contract!"