Sunderland boss Alex Neil draws links between Gareth Ainsworth’s Wycombe and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool | OneFootball

Sunderland manager Alex Neil has likened the control and trust that Gareth Ainsworth has at Wycombe to that of Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.

The Black Cats face Ainsworth’s side in the League One play-off final at Wembley on Saturday with a place in the Championship on the line.

The Wycombe boss is looking to take his side back up to the second tier at the first time of asking for what would be just their second season at that level.

Given the Chairboys’ budget compared to many of the other sides in the division, including their opponents this week, it would be a phenomenal achievement.

Ainsworth deserves a huge amount of credit for the growth at Wycombe during his nearly 10-year tenure, with the club rewarded for their faith in him.

Speaking to the Sunderland Echo, Neil discussed the control and trust that the Chairboys boss has and likened it to one of the Premier League’s best.

He said: “It’s very rare nowadays you get somebody that can really imprint themselves and their ID on a club.

“Obviously you need to earn a right to do that, Gareth has earned that right by making them successful and then what happens is when there’s complete trust there between the owners, between the fans, between the club and Gareth himself, then they basically hand control over to him.

“I think if you look down the history at a lot of the big clubs, even some of the clubs just now like Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and teams like that, that trust between every facet of the club is in place and that’s certainly what Wycombe have got.

“That’s not the norm anymore and that is an anomaly really amongst football clubs and that’s where they get their strength from.”

Wycombe used all their wile and experience to edge past free-flowing MK Dons at the semi-final stage while Sunderland needed a stoppage-time goal from Patrick Roberts to get past fellow fallen giants Sheffield Wednesday.

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The Verdict

What Ainsworth has done at Wycombe has been nothing short of phenomenal and the club deserve credit for the faith they have put in him over the past decade.

He has his detractors due to the direct style of football that he often plays but he’s proven himself an excellent team builder, motivator, and – particularly in the play-offs in recent years – a fantastic game manager.

Clearly, Neil would love to have the sort of control that Ainsworth has at Wycombe but he will have accepted coming into the Sunderland job that he’s not likely to get that at the Stadium of Light.

That said, if he can win promotion to the Championship this term you feel more trust will be placed in him by the club hierarchy.