Chairman Niall Quinn, backed by investor Ellis Short, will hand manager Ricky Sbragia the funding to go out and capture the handful of key targets they believe the club needs to move on to the next stage of their mission.

Quinn told SAFC TV: "We have the nucleus of a good Premier League squad and the additions we make from here will be high quality ones.

"We don't need to change the team all about, and Ricky is working to put together a list.

"We have had a lot of players here in the last two or three years.

"To go on the journey we have, we have had three teams: we bought a team to get up, we then bought a team to stay up and this year we bought a team to kick on.

"Now we just need to add a bit of quality to get the team up a notch or two.

"We will try to do it and we have the funds to do it, which is great because Sunderland in the past might have had to stop at this point - or might have had to stop last summer and do with what they had.

"This time, we will be active. Ricky is spending time looking at his targets and going to see them - so we will feel secure about buying the finished article."

Sbragia's predecessor, Roy Keane, admitted earlier in the season that the huge spending - he invested in excess of £70million in players during his time at the helm - would have to stop.

Indeed, in his only interview since his departure from Wearside, he revealed he had signed players he did not believe had long-term futures simply because the squad needed to be increased in size.

The Black Cats recently announced reductions in season ticket prices for the next campaign with Quinn admitting if they did not bring more fans to the Stadium of Light, the club's spending power could be affected.

However, his confirmation that cash is available will come as a boost to Sbragia.

The Scot refused to be held to ransom during the January window, which opened just days after his appointment on a permanent basis, and signed only Tal Ben Haim and Calum Davenport on loan.

He has vowed only to bring in players he has checked out thoroughly after allowing Pascal Chimbonda and El-Hadji Diouf leave the club amid suggestions of disciplinary problems.