The 59-year-old former Aston Villa boss starts his new job on Wearside on Monday. Eric Black will remain in charge for Sunday's Premier League clash against Wolves at Molineux on Sunday. The Black Cats turned to O'Neill after parting company with Steve Bruce earlier this week following a poor start to the season. The Northern Irishman told the club's official website: "It's a very nice feeling to be back in football and to be the manager of Sunderland. It's a big moment for me." O'Neill added: "I'd heard about what a good club it was but coming here, seeing the stadium and training ground, I've been bowled over. It's absolutely fantastic. "I hope I can help Sunderland to a very successful period. That's what I've come for and that's my driving ambition." Sunderland chairman Ellis Short is convinced he has got the "perfect" man in O'Neill, who met the players at the club's Academy of Light training headquarters on Saturday morning. Short, who dispensed with Bruce's services on Wednesday evening, was hugely impressed with O'Neill over two days of talks, and is confident he can bring the club the success it craves. He told the club's official website: "Martin has as good a managerial pedigree as you could wish to find and has proven over the years to be a very astute, top-level manager. "During his time at Aston Villa, he established the club firmly in the top 10 of the Barclays Premier League year-on-year, and this is something we are striving to achieve at Sunderland. "Having spoken with Martin over the last two days, I know he is brimming with enthusiasm and anticipation about the challenge of taking Sunderland forward, and I believe he is the perfect choice to deliver the success we all desire." O'Neill, who has been out of football since leaving Villa in acrimonious circumstances in August last year, will start work in earnest on Monday morning. Sunderland lie in 16th place in the table having won only two of their 13 Premier League games to date. They have managed to collect three points at the Stadium of Light only three times this calendar year, and that, rather than his Geordie roots, ultimately cost Bruce his job. One of O'Neill's first tasks will be to assess the squad he has inherited and prepare for what he might be able to do in the January transfer window. In the short term, he will look to address the club's parlous situation in the league with Sunday's visit to Molineux and next weekend's home clash with Blackburn representing opportunities to add to their paltry 11-point tally ahead of a testing Christmas programme. O'Neill has been coveted by Sunderland fans for some time, but former Black Cats defender Gary Bennett knows that affection will carry him or any other manager only so far. Bennett said: "To me, as long as the manager brings success - it could be Martin O'Neill, it could be Mark Hughes, it could be the physiotherapist - it doesn't really matter to me who it is. "The main thing is results. You can bring in top-notch managers, big names - at the end of the day, it's on the pitch where results count. That's how you are judged. "As long as you are bringing in results, everything else looks after itself." Former Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy and his players stand between the Black Cats, with Bruce's former assistant Eric Black in the dug-out, and a positive result on Sunday, and Bennett has warned he will be in no mood to do his former employers any favours. He said: "He is not going to make it easy. He will be looking at the situation and he will want to get one over on his old club. He will want to win the game. "Looking at the table, it's quite tight down there. You are two points off relegation, but three points off mid-table. "If you win on Sunday, you are in mid-table and if you then beat Blackburn next weekend, that opens up quite a gap. "But it's winning those games. It's easily said and we have seen how hard it was against Fulham and against Wigan. It's not going to be easy."
