NEW Sunderland manager Chris Coleman has revealed how the prospect of having no money to spend in January was still not enough to stop him from taking over a “huge club” like Sunderland.

The Welshman was paraded in front of the media at the Academy of Light for the first time this morning when his excitement was clear, suggesting it could be the biggest club he could “ever manage.”

There are likely to have been other offers from other higher ranked teams if he had waited following his decision to step down as Wales manager last week – with Sunderland sitting four points adrift of safety at the bottom of the Championship.

Such was Coleman’s desire to take on the challenge, he has admitted he has taken on the job even though he knows there will not be much money for squad investment in in the New Year.

Coleman, keen to assess the players he has inherited too, said: “The January transfer window will depend on maybe we will have to regenerate some cash ourselves. I am under no illusions.

"We have got what we have got, I haven't been promised a huge transfer kitty that I can go and splash the cash, it is not that.

"So, I knew that before I walked through the door. I know the players we have here, we can improve the players we have here, yes we need to reshuffle the squad, clearly.

"I am not saying anything that nobody knows already. I am not going into the January transfer window with millions of pounds to spend but it can be something to invest.

“I have just walked through the door so I have to get my feet under the table before I can go back to the chairman and say 'right this is what we need, we need this, that.' At the minute I have only been here a day. Before I have that conversation with him I will need to take a closer look.”

Coleman will take his second training session today before he takes the squad down to the Midlands for the game with Aston Villa.

He has confirmed he will be without Jonny Williams and Duncan Watmore, and both could be facing lengthy time on the sidelines after suffering respective shoulder and knee injuries against Millwall on Saturday. Watmore, who has only just returned from a lengthy knee injury, is the greatest concern.

Coleman knows he does not have too much time to influence the shape of a team that has won just once from 17 league matches this season.

He said: “It’s tough because they played on Saturday. We have lost Jonny Williams and Duncan Watmore, two big problems for us. That’s what can happen, you have to try to break that cycle.

“I will have a session this morning after this with the squad who is going to the Midlands, I expect to see them being brave. I expect them to go and perform, compete and basically that’s it to start with.

“We can’t ask for too much. Villa are doing very well, top six and I expect them to succeed this season because Steve Bruce is doing a good job there.

“We have our own mission if you like. We have only been here 24 hours but you have to start somewhere. We haven’t been able to change too much.”