Even if they beat the drop this season, Sunderland boss Ricky Sbragia admits there's sure to be more upheaval over the next two years.

"The first four years in this division are difficult," he said. "You have to chop and change your squad around and bring in better, it's as simple as that.

"There are bad times when you lose a few games and it's not pleasant. You just hope the people upstairs want to stay with you. I go back to my experiences at Bolton. Every year they brought in two or three players, just to tweak it, to change it, to improve things."