David Moyes says he is a better manager now than he has ever been and believes any boss would have struggled to keep Sunderland in the Premier League.
The division’s bottom club travel to 19th-placed Middlesbrough tonight for a North-East derby with little meaning.
Sunderland are 12 points from safety while Boro are nine adrift. They have won just once between them since mid-December and supporters of both clubs are resigned to playing Championship football next term.
Moyes, however, has suggested that Sunderland’s fate was sealed even before his arrival last summer.