Last month, Sunderland beat Sheffield United in dramatic fashion to secure their return to the Premier League.
Régis Le Bris guided the Black Cats to promotion to the top flight after eight years away.
Pedro Ribeiro has been the manager’s assistant at Sunderland since October. Friday’s edition of [O Jogo](https://ojogo.pt/) has published an interview with the 39-year-old and the chat is mainly around Sunderland’s promotion.
Prior to discussing this subject, the Portuguese newspaper asked him why he accepted an assistant role after previously being the first team manager at B SAD, Penafiel, Académico Viseu and Leixões.
When responding to that, he explained Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman’s role in his arrival at the Stadium of Light.
He said: _“As a coach, we have to understand where football takes us and what kind of opportunities arise._ _This came about as an assistant, through a symbiosis of ideas between people who approached me, namely manager Régis Le Bris and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman. They made me see that this path could be interesting.”_
Sunderland finished fourth in the Championship and made it to the playoffs. Le Bris’ assistant says they changed their strategy and started preparing for the playoffs after realising direct promotion \[top two finish\] wasn’t possible.
_“We prepared for it in advance, because at a certain point we realised that direct promotion would be very difficult, but at the same time we realised that we would end up in the playoff zone,”_ Ribeiro explained.
_“This allowed us to manage the team and convey the message that all the players would be important. We were able to recover players who were injured and others with physical problems. So, we reached the semi-final against Coventry and the final against Sheffield United at full strength.”_
Over the past two seasons, the six teams that secured promotion to the Premier League have been relegated a year later. O Jogo pointed this out to Ribeiro and asked if Sunderland have to worry about it.
_“We are aware of the competition we are going to play in and what has happened. Of course, this is a warning to chart the right path to follow, so that this does not happen to Sunderland,”_ he added.