Sunderland boss Steve Bruce faces the axe FOOTBALL

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Makemstine Roger

Makemstine Roger

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Jan 25, 2011
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SUNDERLAND BOSS STEVE BRUCE FACES THE AXE


Steve Bruce needs wins in the next two games to halt Sunderland’s slide

Sunday October 9,2011
By Tony Paskin
Have your say(0)
SUNDERLAND manager Steve Bruce is hanging on to his job by a thread.
Fears that he could be the first Premier League manager to be sacked this season mounted last night amid speculation that Martin O’Neill has been sounded out about succeeding him.

It is understood the approach to O’Neill was made three weeks ago, but went no further because the Irishman would not consider it while Bruce was still in the job.

But with Bruce’s big ally, Niall Quinn, now replaced as chairman by US owner Ellis Short – and no sign of Sunderland’s poor start to the season ending – a new move appears to be on the cards for the former Celtic and Aston Villa boss, who is now also being linked with his old club, Nottingham Forest.

Short, a Texas billionaire, has ploughed £100million into the club and backed Bruce heavily in the transfer market. But he has been bitterly disappointed by the team’s early-season failures, particularly the 1-0 home defeat by Newcastle.

Now Short’s unexpected jump into the chairman’s hotseat is seen as a desperate move to try to halt Sunderland’s slide.

And with just one win so far, Bruce, who signed 12 players during the close season, is now fighting to save his job.

This is despite claims by Quinn, who has taken on a new role in charge of the club’s “global development”, that Bruce will be given more time.

Bruce will, however, need to get something from both his next two games – away to Arsenal and Bolton – to stay out of the firing line.

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His plight is echoed by punters and as a result he is now 7-2 second favourite behind Blackburn’s Steve Kean in the bookies’ list to be first in the Premier League sack race.

Sunderland have had a string of poor results stretching back to last Christmas. Towards the end of a disappointing campaign last season they picked up only one point in nine games, which led to Bruce being vilified by Black Cats fans.

Selling Darren Bent to Aston Villa for £24m – which signalled a freefall in the club’s fortunes last season – and Jordan Henderson (£20m) to Liverpool in the summer have also attracted widespread criticism.

In the meantime, the under-fire boss has had several fallouts with high-profile players as well. Record £13m signing Asamoah Gyan now refuses to talk to Bruce after angrily refuting the manager’s claims that his recent shock loan move to the Arab Emirates club, Al Ain, was driven by money.

Another recent departure, defender Anton Ferdinand, also claimed that Bruce had pushed him out of the club and into a move to QPR because he had earlier refused to join the Ukrainian club Dnipro.

And Marcos Angeleri, the Argentinian international full-back for whom Bruce paid Estudiantes £1.5m, claims he has been frozen out by the manager.

Angeleri, who returned to Argentina for treatment on a knee injury, has made only three appearances since joining the club 18 months ago.

Meanwhile, the previously reclusive Short moved to calm fans’ fears but fell short of giving Bruce a vote of confidence. He said: “I can assure our fans that it’s the same group of people continuing to lead the club.”

Explaining Quinn’s new job, he added: “With financial fair play rules coming into effect, it is essential for the long-term success of the club that we develop interests on a global scale and there’s no one better than Niall to sell

the ethos of Sunderland to an international audience.” Whether the under-fire Bruce will be there to be part of it is looking more and more unlikely.


Cant say im surprised, his record this season is woeful, so im pleased Ellis is at the helm, over these troubled waters.
 
We need to get rid of SB now while we can still recover, the problem is who to bring in, I hear a lot of people going on about MON, I don't think he is the man for the job, I personally would go for Rafa Benitez, someone who has managed a big club in the EPL & won trophies with Liverpool
 
shieldscat said:
We need to get rid of SB now while we can still recover, the problem is who to bring in, I hear a lot of people going on about MON, I don't think he is the man for the job, I personally would go for Rafa Benitez, someone who has managed a big club in the EPL & won trophies with Liverpool
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Benitez is a clown and anyway he wouldn't manage Sunderland
 
Mixed feelings about the reporting. I wrote on here a couple of weeks ago that Gyan had only gone to Al-Ain for a year until Bruce could be gotten rid of. I think someone in the club agreed with him, and let him go on loan to make a bob or two while things were sorted out here, and then he'll be talking to the new manager. Ferdinand is a moot point. We were trying to reduce the wage bill - but after the way Anton gelled with Brown this season, kicking him out did seem a bit unfair. But Angeleri hurt himself in Portugal in his first pre-season here and hasn't been right since. Criticising Bruce for that is plain unfair. I want Marcos to shine here - you don't get to play with Messi &co without being a good player - but blaming Bruce for his injury is ridiculous.

The bit that puzzles me is "Now Short’s unexpected jump into the chairman’s hotseat is seen as a desperate move to try to halt Sunderland’s slide." Is he saying Short insisted on becoming Chairman and that Quinn was pushed to one side? I wonder about that. It is possible. Again, I wrote here recently that Niall was hurting himself now with this attachment to Bruce.

Weird and wonderful spin. Bent and Gyan are 'greedy bastards' while Bruce negotiates a nice increase for himself, etc. The truth? - Ha, toss a coin up. It'll all come out in the wash - maybe.
 
Cuty always enjoy your input and i have read your previous slants on what was going on at the club, if this report is true, your dam close to the backroom bickering's. your crystal ball is better than mystic Megs, well done
 
Win the next 2 games? Arsenal away! on sky !, when did we last win on sky. And the biggest banana skin for years is going to Bolton who might have lost 7 consecutive premier games by then and all their home games. I have said it before that whenever a team needs a result, SAFC have been the team to save them (Wolves h last season?) (Bolton away previous season) it goes on and on. Ellis short says it would take a catastropic run for Bruce to be sacked, well that has already happened i am afraid.
 
What a load of ****e

No evidence in any of the reporters quotes. He is hoping with Quinn going he has been lucky enough to make a report which may prove to be right or miles off the mark
 
mitchthemakem said:
What a load of ****e

No evidence in any of the reporters quotes. He is hoping with Quinn going he has been lucky enough to make a report which may prove to be right or miles off the mark
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don't agree with you the first 5 statements are true, admitted the statement may be conjecture, but by the same token there is nothing to declare it as ****e
 
psycho said:
What a load of ****e.
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Yes, ****e's just as possible. As I said, "Bent and Gyan are 'greedy bastards' while Bruce negotiates a nice increase for himself'. I don't think we should believe a word that comes out of that club at the moment. Believe what you see.
 
cuteybuns said:
Yes, ****e's just as possible. As I said, "Bent and Gyan are 'greedy bastards' while Bruce negotiates a nice increase for himself'. I don't think we should believe a word that comes out of that club at the moment. Believe what you see.
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Yet folk should believe you mate. I mean, anyone that says they have an 'in' at the club, especially on the internet, deserves full attention.


What a knacker.
 
I'm with simples ...

This is surely a case of poor journalism -putting Quin's departure alongside Bruce being under pressure from the fans. Ridiculous.

Unless you refer the evidence of your own wishful thinking.
 
psycho said:
Yet folk should believe you mate. I mean, anyone that says they have an 'in' at the club, especially on the internet, deserves full attention.


What a knacker.
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"... an 'in' at the club"? When have I claimed that? Can you give me a date please? - I'd like to go back and read it. There's no point in believing me because I know no more than you (which I suspect i very, very little) and I don't believe what the club is saying either. Gyan's deal was ' a good one for everybody concerned' according to the official SAFC website. A week later, Quinn is offering Gyan an 'olive branch' (for what if it was good all round?) and Bruce is calling him greedy! They can't even agree with each other over what's true right now.

What a knacker.
 
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