Ross Stewart on Lee Johnson’s plans to ‘mould him into a combination of Quinn & Phillips!’

Sunderland striker Ross Stewart recently appeared on an episode of ‘Down The Divisions’ Podcast to talk about his career to date, and the conversation soon turned around to how the Scottish centre forward is getting on in his new surroundings on Wearside.

Stewart noted that he had nerves when entering the dressing room, but was keen to learn from experienced pros like Aiden McGeady and Grant Leadbitter - two of the leaders in the group:

When you walk into that dressing room, some of the pedigree that those guys have... Aiden McGeady with 90 odd caps for Ireland, and you’ve got a dressing room full of international players.

It’s a real jump [in quality] and again it’s one of them where nothing changes.

I’ve been down there nervous, walking into that dressing room, getting to know the guys and I’m probably coming from a bit of the unknown in terms of coming from way up north in Scotland, down to a big club like Sunderland.

But I’ve been lucky, they’ve all made me settle really well.

You’ve obviously got people like Aiden McGeady and Grant Leadbitter, guys who have done it in the Premier League for numerous years and had really good careers. It’s probably one of them where I’ll do what I’ve always done, I’ll work hard and try and learn off these guys because there’s a lot to learn from the way they conduct themselves, and look after themselves and how well they train.

When you see the guys around you and how much quality we have in this squad and to be a part of it is very good.

And Stewart revealed that, having spoken to manager Lee Johnson, he plans to mould him into... a combination of both Niall Quinn AND Kevin Phillips (Good luck, Ross!).

Laughing, he explained:

Yeah that took the pressure right off! After speaking with Lee, we think the same in terms of what we can do for me and make the best player I can be.

I’ve still got a lot to learn and the success that Lee has had as a manager, I’ll be able to learn a lot from him. He’s done it at a really high level, he’s been really successful.

Hopefully he can add to me as a player and I can be successful at Sunderland.

You can listen to the full show - which dropped last week - on your favourite Podcast app, or by clicking the link below.