Phil Smith's Sunderland AFC column: What a small but significant decision revealed about club strategy

Given its relatively minor impact on the game that would follow, it was a revelation from Tony Mowbray that drew an unusual amount of attention and delight.

Though no decision had at that stage been made, it had clearly been a question on Mowbray's mind and it didn't take him too long to come up with the answer. With Luke O'Nien suspended and Corry Evans still injured, Mowbray was asked who would lead Sunderland against Birmingham City.

His response was that it would almost certainly be Dan Neil and that this would be well received was never really in doubt. In football the captaincy is of far less significance tactically than in other sports, a more symbolic role and one whose biggest tangible impact is probably off the pitch and in the dressing room. Who better then to carry the torch and embody the hopes, dreams and passion of the 40,000 watching on than one of their own? In Neil's case, it is an image of extra resonance given that he, like so many of his generation understandably chose to do, could have left the club in its lowest ebb of exile in League One. It was also no doubt a special moment for all those who have played a part in his rise from the very youngest groups of the club's academy, particularly those who helped him through a long injury at 16 that for a time appeared to threaten his future career.

Neil has spoken regularly of his dream being to be in that team that leads Sunderland all the way back to the promised land, and this felt like another significant step on that journey.

It also represents another win for Sunderland's focus on individual development, the greater stability that now underpins the club allowing for more patience and bravery in decision making. For all Neil's precocious talent when he broke into the side under Lee Johnson, it would have been a bold prediction to say that he would be leading a Championship side in just a couple of years. Not because there were any doubts over whether he was good enough, because only a few minutes watching his ease in possession made clear that he was. The question was how quickly he would be able to marry that technical talent with the other side of the game - the physicality and tactical discipline required to survive in the upper tiers.

Neil, remember, actually lost his place in the closing stages of the campaign that saw the Black Cats win promotion out of League One at the fourth attempt.  While that was partly because of Alex Neil's belief that Sunderland's youngsters were effectively burnt out by their exploits in the first half of the season, it also spoke to his clear feeling that a touch more steel was needed in the heart of midfield.

Eighteen months on, Neil is holding his own and then some. Part of the reason why Mowbray was so keen to hand Neil the armband was because of the way he has become one of his trusted messengers on the pitch. Any head coach will tell you how difficult it is to get ideas and messages across in the cauldron of a matchday, making it vital that there are figures on the pitch with a level of tactical understanding and willingness to lead vocally. Neil has, Mowbray will tell you, become one of the most vocal and influential players in the group.

A key part of Neil's development as a player came last season, when in the absence of Corry Evans he was regularly asked to drop deeper and play a more disciplined midfield role. There was a call from most of us for Sunderland to add more experience to their options in the heart of the pitch and it was fair - there were large spells when Evans' calming presence was clearly missed. And there were times when it cost Sunderland, such as the defeat at Sheffield United when Neil saw red early for a professional foul. By the end of the campaign, though, Neil was thriving and the debate over his suitability to execute such an important role was as good as over.

Now he has been pushed forward again by Mowbray, the midfielder is clearly a more rounded player and has spoken of how that occasionally difficult period helped develop his tactical awareness. For Sunderland, this is a classic example of them walking the talk when it comes to youth development: to find solutions internally whenever and wherever possible.

Neil's rise is also reflective of Sunderland's belief that age and experience are two entirely different things. Their view is that you are not just developing players' footballing ability, but also their leadership and personality. When it has been put to Sunderland's hierarchy in recent months that the squad is lacking experience, a key part of the response is that while still young, many of the current squad have now played a lot of senior football. Handing them greater responsibility on and off the pitch is a key part of the process in developing young players who are robust, mature and tactically versatile as well as technically gifted.

As long as Sunderland remain in the second tier there will always be a tricky balance to strike between making the best decisions for the club in the long term, and ensuring that the team is of a strength where it can compete for promotion - that can only ever be the aim at this level.

Neil's continued rise is a reminder all the same of how trusting in youth can actively serve the ultimate goal of promotion, through time and attention rather than pure cash, Sunderland have helped build a player the match of most in his position elsewhere.

The ultimate credit for that, of course, lies with Neil himself. He is a fine example to all those Sunderland fans who follow in his path through the academy, that talent is nothing without humility and the desire to learn. He is every inch a Sunderland captain, even if he'll be handing the armband back for a little while now.