SUNDERLAND’S new owners admit the club has to forget its Premier League past and focus its undivided attention on rebuilding in League One.

One of the biggest steps in the regenerative process should take place today, with Jack Ross set to be confirmed as Sunderland’s new manager.

Stewart Donald had hoped to confirm Ross’ appointment yesterday, but the process of finalising contracts and signing off compensation agreements with St Mirren remains incomplete.

Both Donald and his fellow director, Charlie Methven, remain confident that Ross will be in place before the weekend, with the Scotsman having turned down the opportunity to move to Championship club Ipswich Town in order to sign an initial two-year contract at the Stadium of Light.

Ross’ arrival will be a major step forward in terms of kick-starting Sunderland’s preparations for next season, but the 41-year-old’s appointment is only a small part of the wider changes that Donald and Methven are hoping to enact this summer.

There will be a major overhaul of the playing squad, as well as a pruning of Sunderland’s off-field staff, with former chief executive Martin Bain already confirmed as a high-profile casualty of the cull.

However, the new Sunderland hierarchy are also hoping to engineer a cultural change that will help everyone associated with the Black Cats come to terms with the club’s new status as a League One entity.

“Being around here in the past few weeks, I am not convinced that, as a club, this place has got used to not being in the Premier League, let alone the Championship,” said Methven. “Now, we need to get people squared up to the idea of the challenge in hand, which is winning League One.

“That is a challenge Stewart and I understand well having watched football in this division. It is a very competitive league, as Man City found out this season (when they lost to Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup).

“You can’t just turn up. You have to be ready to be physical and tough. There is a real job to be done, and this club has to get ready to win again. It has lost too many games. We have to be lean and mean and hard. There can be no free three points and no free wages – this club has to be about winning and being hard to play against.”

Ross will be charged with the task of leading that change, and his successful shifting of the mind-set at St Mirren was a major factor in him being offered the chance to move to Wearside.

When he moved to St Mirren from Alloa Athletic, the former Hartlepool United defender took over a side that was rooted to the foot of the Championship table and experiencing the same kind of tailspin that has sent Sunderland spiralling into the third tier.

He steadied the ship in his first season in charge, guiding St Mirren to safety, and completely altered the club’s outlook in his second campaign, which ended with the Championship title and a place in the Scottish Premier League.

His players bought in to the hard-working, respectful ethos he created at the Paisley Stadium, and he will be encouraged to foster similar traits at the Stadium of Light.

“We need a cultural change,” said Donald. “The standards have got to be really high. I’ve gone into the Academy of Light, and if you wander in there as a League One footballer, we’ve got to make sure that people don’t think they’ve arrived and the hard work has been done.

“The standards the football club set should be absolutely top drawer, it should be 100 per cent effort. They’ve (the players) got to work hard and do everything right, and the manager has to set the tone for that. He cannot be somebody that will let them off with anything.

“If we want to win anything, especially now in League One, this will be the place where as soon as the fixtures are drawn out, everybody wants to know when they are playing Sunderland. They’ll be looking forward to coming up here, and when we go there, it will be a big game.

“You are going to have to be strong, and if you are going to be that, the manager has to set the tone. I am bringing someone in who sets the standard right at the top, and then makes sure that the players understand what is expected of them and gets the right type of characters here.”