Summarises my thoughts pretty well

http://salutsunderland.com/2011/10/...ity-generous-breathing-space-for-steve-bruce/

And after we had neither won nor lost in the game against WBA, but fought back with character from an abysmal start to claim a draw, Bruce declared himself shocked by the criticism he had received over Sunderland’s poor start to the season.
After decades in the game. Bruce is almost certainly erased not a naive man, so so we must assume he is not really shocked at all, just a bit disappointed, to borrow a word he uses himself quite a lot.
Why the criticism? Played seven. Won one. Drawn three. Lost three. That is straightforward relegation form, leaving us just above the bottom three, and it is not as if we have had the most difficult of opening programmes, two promoted sides and four home games figuring among the seven fixtures.
The next three are tricky, but to many minds – putting to one side those that are already made up, not to mention the fevered speculation certain to follow the announcement that Niall Quinn is no longer our chairman – the future of our manager should rest on how we fare in them.
We start at the Emirates. What a mighty performance would be needed there to emulate last season’s result and snatch a point. Forget Arsenal’s own dismal start: we were lucky not to be beaten there last season and will need the same good fortune, or a display on the lines of Chelsea away last November, when we meet on Oct 16.
Bruce may still, as Pete Sixsmith has suggested here, have the rest of October to show he is at least on the right road. After Arsenal, that means Villa at home, Bolton away. What can we now truly expect from those three matches? Can we honestly see Sunderland coming out of it with seven points to match last season’s haul?
I wanted nine from the four games starting at Carrow Road. Eight seemed a reasonable second best, especially since that would have represented an unbeaten run. Two of those games have passed, yielding all of one point.
How I long for my own pessimism to prove unfounded and a really strong Sunderland performance in both halves of each of the coming three games, without ruinous defending or unforgivable indiscipline, could give us a decent tally. And my own reluctance to join the Bruce Out bandwagon too early, as many did, would be vindicated.
But my patience has been stretched too far for comfort. The Bent and Gyan transfer sagas, the pathetic win rate even at home and the scandalously meek cup exits have all taken their toll on my support for the boss.
Television appearances can be deceptive. But from what I’ve seen, I like Bruce. Provided he did the job for us, I frankly wouldn’t care a hoot who he supported as a lad and maybe supports still. I give him credit for last season’s 10th top position. He was fortunate in terms of how the final results went, but how many would have put it down to sheer bad luck, not to be blamed on him, had results gone slightly differently and left us 13th?
But if, on the evening of Oct 29, we have a record that reads P10 W1 D4 L5 or similar, it will undoubtedly seem to many that there is no further justification for giving Bruce’s team time to “gel”. People will say we are at the outer limits of the timescale for a smooth change of managership. The season, and our top flight status, will be at stake.
Like Pete Sixsmith, I believe it would be an act of extreme folly to get rid of Bruce unless a tip-top replacement were lined up. Sacking him for its own sake would be insane, repeating the mistakes made when parting company with star strikers.
I am still far from convinced that Bruce’s hand was not forced over Bent and Gyan; in the case of the former, the manager may have been acting as no more than a loyal employee when he said allowing him to go without anyone else being recruited was a calculated gamble.
With Gyan gone, again without hint of replacement, we have one attacker with proper Premier experience and he is only with us on loan. However good Ji and Wickham may one day become, they hardly fit the bill yet. What that means for our line-up at the Emirates a week in Sunday is open to speculation. We know we cannot use Bendtner against his parent club but let us hope Bruce has not forgotten the response to his experiment of starting without any striker at all at Brighton.
Yet in an ideal world, to the horror of many people who have written here of late, I would like to see Bruce turn our fortunes around with the squad he has assembled, subject to the strengthening needed in January. It is by no means certain that even a highly competent, carefully chosen successor arriving in late October or early November could do much better. A panic appointment would probably be disastrous.
Of course those who matter most in what happens at the club over the coming weeks or months – and in particular Ellis Short – should not seek to brush off the wave of criticism and concern as the fickle reaction of ungrateful supporters who know no better.
Most of the people who comment at Salut! Sunderland, and in far harsher terms at the Blackcats list, are mature, sensible fans who have devoted many years to supporting their club, developing a keen appreciation of what is good, bad and truly awful in football. Their views deserve respect.
Nor should we forget that after raising his eyebrows at Salut! Sunderland‘s resemblance to a cauldron of negativity, Ian_safc went on to say: “… some of the points I agree with … I must concede that, tactically, I think he has been outdone a number of times.”
That was not the whole story. Ian praised Bruce as being astute in the transfer market, a good man manager with strong relationships with players that Roy Keane did not have and the capacity to lead his team to the sort of encouraging displays we saw against Liverpool and Stoke. “I’m not calling for Bruce’s head yet,” Ian said. “Give him a few more games. We have perhaps the best squad we’ve ever had, capable of the most attrative football seen yet at the SOL. My cup is half full!”
And I would go along with that. A “calculated gamble” it may well be, but I have mentally extended my own period of judgement on Steve Bruce until Sunderland have completed a longer version of the run Pete Sixsmith envisages: namely, I would wait until we have seen what we manage to do not only this month against Arsenal, Villa and Bolton but also in the November matches, which start with what most would see as near-certain defeat at Old Trafford but then bring Wigan and Fulham to the Stadium of Light.
If the owner agrees with my assessment, I’d then expect Bruce to keep his job if he managed reasonable return from those six games.
If the run ended with SAFC in relegation trouble, I would hold the even weightier expectation that Mr Short had someone firmly in mind to take over.
And football being about results, I would add a very big proviso: if that someone has already been identified, but needs a quick decision, the sacrifice of Bruce might be made as early as necessary, a brutal act but in the interests of the greater good of SAFC.
That is fairly tepid support for Bruce but will still leave me out on a limb. Some will say my approach runs the risk of dumping us deeper into trouble before action is taken.
But as things stand, generous as it may seem, I’d give Steve Bruce six games not three to save his job. The only sensible option would be to sack him now and that would make sense only if a replacement was ready to took charge by mid-October.

 

To go along with our tricky start, (ho hum) god knows what to make of it when we face the Manchester clubs.

Wonder when the non tricky patch is going to come.

 

Thanks Dan - I can no longer get back that 30 minutes of my life spent reading that!!!

I don't think Short will sack Bruce yet - as you say - give him till the Bolton game to sort it out - BUT, the change at the top may make bruce or the players sit up and take notice - let's not forget that the fans singing "Sacked in the morning" seemed to have a profound effect on the lads at the weekend - i.e. they all seemed to up their game after they heard it (and it came from all parts of the ground so there was no-way people wouldn't have heard it!!)

The players seem to like the manager - which is a good thing, unless the manager can't get things right.. Bloody hell it's awful being a Sunderland fan sometimes isn't it!

BTW - Bendtner was awesome on Saturday!!

 

It seemed at lot less wordy on the actual website, seems to be heavier going once i copied it over....

its great being a sunderland fan, if you happen to take pleasure in pain, worry, depression and nervous breakdowns

 

Bloody hell that makes Cest's look like limericks.

I agree with most points raised apart from the give him 6 matches, I haven't seen anything from Bruce that makes him worth an extra 3 matches never mind 6!.
And!
It's Brigade not Bandwagon.

 

That was an excellent read, full of commonsense, and devoid of some of the knee-jerk bile I have read of late....

 

Good reply!

 

I'd still only give him three games,max!!no,sorry,one game........he's clueless,so why drag it out??