Had the Black Cats followed Newcastle and Middlesbrough into the Coca-Cola Championship at the end of last season, Quinn had a contingency plan which would have seen the wage bill automatically trimmed without the need to lay off staff.

Indeed, as the Gazette revealed earlier today, the Irishman will insist on relegation clauses being included in all new player contracts.

His approach is one management experts believe could benefit other clubs.

Ruth Spellman, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, said: "Leaders are easy targets when times are tough - they are, after all, the face of an organisation.

"But with leadership comes the responsibility of steadying the ship if times become uncomfortable for the club.

"It means making tough decisions and although they are easy to criticise, there is a clear rationale behind Niall Quinn's idea.

"The point is that to organisations, no matter what sector they are in, must focus on strategic business needs; that means identifying whose skills are critical and who will be beneficial in the long-term.

"What really matters is identifying the skills that will see an organisation through change and then building these competencies."

Newcastle have had to make around 120 people redundant in the wake of relegation, while Sunderland underwent a similar restructuring following their drop back into the Football League at the end of 2002-03.

Quinn had brought an end to his playing career earlier in that campaign as his injuries took their toll, and he could only look on as people he had got to know during his time on Wearside lost their jobs.

He said: "We had it planned for quite a while that relegation would be put more on the players than the staff here.

"It wouldn't have been a knee-jerk reaction to do that.

"The players' salaries would have been trimmed, not the staff and we had a survival plan in place.

"I remember what happened when so many members of staff lost their jobs here and that was the cruellest thing of all, seeing so many of the non-football staff pack their bags and have to go.

"That hurt the very epicentre of the club. You don't feel so sorry for the player who has to go and drive his Ferrari out of the gates.
"We were determined we would have that plan in place."

Quinn and manager Steve Bruce, who will get down to work in earnest next week, are currently identifying transfer targets, and any player they sign will be asked to take a drop in pay should the worst happen.