JACK ROSS knows more about the attacking threat posed by Aiden McGeady than any of his fellow League One managers – because he has first-hand experience of trying to mark the Sunderland winger.

McGeady returned to training after a four-month lay-off with a calf injury earlier this week, and while he missed the whole of pre-season, the former Republic of Ireland international could be thrust straight into the squad that takes on Burton Albion this afternoon.

The 32-year-old started his career with Celtic, spending six seasons on the books at Parkhead, and made a number of appearances against Ross when the current Sunderland boss was playing for St Mirren along with his first-team coach, John Potter.

Ross remembers their last meeting especially fondly, with St Mirren having thrashed Celtic 4-0 in March 2010, but there were plenty of other occasions when McGeady came out on top.

“I think we have very different recollections of those matches,” joked Ross, who often found himself marking McGeady as he was stationed in his preferred position of left-back. “John and I played together for St Mirren when Aiden was at Celtic. We both tell him how good we were against him and Aiden gives it back. He wasn’t the easiest player to play against.”

Sunderland have a number of different options in their wide positions, with Lynden Gooch and Chris Maguire having impressed in the early weeks of the season and Jerome Sinclair also now available after returning from a lay-off of his own.

McGeady, a 92-time Republic of Ireland international who has also spent time with Spartak Moscow and Everton, is a completely different proposition in terms of experience and status though, and despite his lack of action in the last four months, it did not take the veteran winger long to make his mark in training.

“He’s got undoubted quality,” said Ross. “Statistically, I actually think he had a good season last year, a really productive season. I think it was his best goals return in a season as a player.

“He’s obviously somebody I know an awful lot about, and his quality has never been in doubt. I think that’s reflected in the career he’s had.

“It’s been a frustrating time for him, and it’s been a long time out when you add in the end of last season. It’s been the best part of four months out, which is quite a long time. But I’ve probably accelerated his involvement with us just because of how he is.

“He’ll get more out fitness-wise in terms of training with us, and we’ve already seen this week that he’s got incredible quality on the ball. If we can get him back fit and available, then it only strengthens us again.”

McGeady’s return to the fold has come in a dramatic week that has also seen Papy Djilobodji dismissed for breaches of his contract.

The French defender made a brief return to Sunderland’s training ground, but his contract was terminated after he failed a series of fitness tests that were part of the agreement that saw him fail to attend pre-season training at the start of the summer.

Djilobodji was kept away from the rest of Sunderland’s first-team squad this week, and while Ross had a conversation with the centre-half, he was determined to ensure the ongoing saga involving the Frenchman and his fellow outcast, Didier Ndong, did not become a distraction to his senior group.

“There’s been an awful lot of things which could have been a distraction at this club,” he said. “I suppose the learning outcome for me is trusting in what I do and what my staff do.

“If you ask my staff who came with me from Scotland, they would have been slightly apprehensive about what they were walking into and unsure about how certain players would behave. It’s natural in any new job, but there was also all this outside noise attached to what was happening at the club and where people were contractually.

“I’m not saying it was a leap of faith but I was comfortable enough in my own skin to say, ‘This is what we do, we’ll do it the way we do things’ and I think the players have responded to that. We then created something that was strong enough that we’ve never really paid too much attention to other things.

“Results always help that. We were pretty positive in our start, and it helped foster trust in what we do. I don’t think my players have really paid too much attention to anything else.

“I’ve had private conversations with several players when Papy was coming back, and they’ll remain private, but I knew where they were at and it gave me comfort.”

And with Sunderland heading into this afternoon’s game with an unbeaten record in the league, Ross is confident the feel-good factor he has fostered since arriving on Wearside has survived this week’s off-field drama.

“For some of these players who have been at the club through consecutive relegations, not only do they want the club to do well, they’re actually feeding off the fact there is a positivity and they’re enjoying it,” he said. “They don’t want that to disappear, they would like it to continue all season. It’s a lot nicer than being involved in a dogfight.”