[3] He quickly broke into the first-team for a club that avoided relegation out of the First Division by one place and one point in 1992–93 under Malcolm Crosby and then Terry Butcher.
They rose to 12th in 1993–94 under the stewardship of Mick Buxton, before new boss Peter Reid steered the Roker Park club out of the relegation zone by the end of the 1994–95 campaign.
Sunderland changed their attack force, signing Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn, whilst Russell was sold to Manchester City in exchange for Nicky Summerbee (valued as a £1 million player) in November 1997.
He joined fellow First Division side Port Vale on loan in February 1999 and scored once in eight games for Brian Horton's "Valiants".
After an unsuccessful trial with Norwich City,[4] he started a six-week loan spell at Oxford United in February 2000, in a move that reunited him with former Sunderland manager Denis Smith.
He moved north to Scotland to join Sandy Clark's SPL side St Johnstone on loan in April 2000 and scored on his debut in a 2–1 defeat at Motherwell.
[9] He was an unused substitute in the 2003 Football League Trophy final at the Millennium Stadium, which ended in a 2–0 defeat to Bristol City.