Shrewsbury Town v Sunderland: Sam Ricketts' old boss has Black Cats purring

And he says it is clear to see the Sunderland chief has unleashed new life into the Black Cats, writes Rosie Swarbrick.

Parkinson signed Ricketts when he was the manager of Hull back in 2006 and the now Shrewsbury Town manager hailed his record in the third tier.

Parkinson has guided Bolton and Colchester to promotion from this division before and has made a promising start to his new role at the Stadium of Light.

Parkinson left Bolton in August due to the off-field issues at the club, but took over from Jack Ross at the Stadium of Light this month.

And having watched a 1-0 defeat at Wycombe and a 5-0 thrashing of Tranmere Rovers, Ricketts can already see signs of the Sunderland you would expect in this division.

He said: “He did really well at Bolton, I know Parky really well, he signed me as a player at Hull many years ago.

“He has got a real good record at this level.

“The difference between the games of Tranmere and Wycombe was vast really. The Tranmere game was excellent in terms of their attacking play and was everything you’d expect a Sunderland in this league to be.

“Scoring goals, exciting, powerful, with speed going forward.

“He certainly seems to have done something because I cannot remember them winning many games 5-0 going back into last season.”

That Tuesday night thrashing of ex-Shrews boss Micky Mellon’s Tranmere was Sunderland’s biggest league win since 2007.

And after his side played out a ‘disappointing’ 1-1 draw with Gillingham in midweek, Ricketts is expecting a different game when his 14th-placed side welcome Parkinson’s eight-placed outfit.

He said: “I don’t think it would be a statement of intent (if we beat them), just a real positive win.

“It would be a great time to get three points and keep us rolling like we are. We are doing well, a win would certainly help that and improve that, but we are ticking over nicely. There is still plenty to work on and improve.

“Sometimes we take two steps forward and one step back, but that is always going in the right direction, while we are still trying to bed in a really young and inexperienced side.

“I think we are finding now, because we are just scratching the surface of this team and what we can do, that Gillingham came here on Tuesday night and tried to make it hard for us to break them down. And we struggled. That is why we could not get the intensity in the game but Sunderland coming in will be the opposite.

“Their fans are demanding them to win every game they are going int o so they will not come here and try and stifle us and worry about how well we move the ball. It will be a little bit roles reversed which can suit us and give us a little more space to attack.”

And with 8,000 fans expected to pack into Montgomery Waters Meadow, Ricketts is relishing the clash.

He said: “We always relish and rise to these games. I think it gives everyone a little extra going into the game and it is something we will look forward too.

“Although they are a good side, we will fancy our chances because we can hurt anyone.”