1. Bruce is sacked and a new man comes in this week? That person has 4 or 5 weeks to assess the current squad and the money in January to strengthen us? 2. Bruce is given until the end of the season and the money for another transfer window in January? 3. Bruce is given a week to week reprieve, based on a draw here, a loss there and a win here (the least likely of the 3 perhaps) and Just a few bob in January to shore up the holes. To be honest and for the good of the club, it has to one of the first two options. We must have stability one way or the other. The last option is the nightmare scenario for all concerned imo. Limbo. I was a little disappointed that Short didn't act immediately after Saturdays disgrace but act in haste repent at leisure as they say. Better to wait a few days, let everyone cool off and then make the decision. That said, Short has to back or sack his manager this week and put to bed this hourly speculation surrounding the club. I will await that announcement with some interest on Friday, as Iam sure you all will too.
I agree that something must be said to either put everyone out of their misery or at least give Bruce a bit of breathing space. Hope they just cut their losses on the new deal he signed last season. My idea of replacements would be a joint managerial post for Alan Shearer and Lee Clark.... ;-) Just joking, I'd offer everything we could afford to Ancelotti and his eye brow to come, chances are he won't come here but if not I'd go for Mark Hughes. I wish something was said though.
TBH number three is definitely the least palatable to us fans but I fear it's the most likely. The longer this is dragging on the less convinced I am finding myself about Mr Short. Since he bought the club and paid off our debts how much new money has he actually put into the team? Not a lot if any. Bruce has had to be self financing in his transfers up till know. Short knows any new manager will understandably demand a size-able kitty to turn the team around. So sacking Bruce would be expensive. A new manager would be expensive. So what is left? Number 3.
Only one possibilty.. It's not if, but when... The masses are growing, and the media are looking for a scalp.... The longer it drags on, the more the club is pulled down,...Clean sweep, get positivity back into the club.
Brian McNally and Caulkin have both just said this. "Sunderland say Steve Bruce will host the pre-Wolves Press call on Friday morning. So it seems he has at least one more game in charge" Looks like the doomsday scenario has already begun. It's going to be a bleak winter.
SUNDERLAND are exploring contingency plans after being taken aback by the speed at which things have reached meltdown at the Stadium of Light. And the club is now involved in a series of top-level talks aimed at finding the best way forward. Belief inside the club was so strong that the current set of four fixtures against fellow strugglers Fulham, Wigan, Wolves and Blackburn would see Sunderland rise up strongly into the mid-table pack, that the club was not preparing a review of its progress until the middle of next month. Defeat to Wigan seemed so unlikely that thoughts were already focused on the fixtures ahead. And the bizarre loss to the Premier League club’s basement side at the weekend coupled, more importantly with the venom directed at the manager, has taken everyone by surprise. Suddenly, Bruce’s position as manager has gone from simply uncomfortable to almost untenable, and owner Ellis Short and his board are still considering the repercussions of Saturday’s defeat. Possible replacements would include Martin O’Neill, who would be a popular choice for most fans. But one of Short’s best friends in football is Aston Villa’s American owner Randy Lerner, who is unlikely to give a glittering reference for his former manager at Villa Park. Another issue is the suggestion that O’Neill’s wife is currently ill – an issue which was a factor when O’Neill originally snubbed the chance to take over when Niall Quinn’s Drumaville Consortium took charge in 2006. Other options have been thrown into the hat, with the likes of Mark Hughes heading a list of candidates including Alan Curbishley, Steve McClaren and Dave Jones.There’s also the issue of money – the likes of O’Neill and Hughes would want big money to spend to turn things around but that appears to be simply not an option at the club at the moment as Bruce himself found as he chased the signature of Charles N’Zogbia in the summer. There is a belief though – that deserves taking seriously – that Sunderland know exactly who they want to replace Bruce. What should not be forgotten at this time of intense speculation is that Steve Bruce is still the manager of Sunderland Football Club. The fact is that despite all the talk of Bruce having to go and expected to go soon, he remains very much in charge of the team. He took training as normal yesterday, has no intention of walking away from the challenge and is currently preparing the side for Sunday’s game against Wolves. With every passing hour he remains in the job it is likely he will still be in charge when the Black Cats take on the Wolves at Molineux. And if he is in the dugout for the Sky-televised game, he will still believe that with a win at the weekend and a victory over Blackburn in the next game, he could keep his job and put Sunderland back on course
I honestly think he will be given the next two games, the fact he is still here would suggest to me that Short wants him to stay if at all possible. I would expect a short, Steve Bruce remains manager statement in public and a 2 games Steve in private. If he goes and Mclaren comes then I will join the FFS get him out brigade
So you want him to get the dreaded Vote of confidence. Short has always been very quiet with his dealings with us, so I am not expecting anything from him at all, yes its killing me, but thats just the way he does business, keeps it in house and not in the public domain. If we get 0 points from the next 2 games, I just cant see how he can keep his job, and I am/was a BIB (hedging towards the fence now), but if he does get 6 points, then thats 7 from the 4 games, and most on here were saying 8 points, so its not that far off, but i just cant see us winning on Sunday against another team struggling, and on Sky TV which we are never good at. A defeat at the weekend and he has to go imo, a draw/win he may still have a job till Blackburn, but we have to win that one at all costs, anything less and its curtains i`m afraid.
Option 1 for me please. And a taxi for Mr Bruce... In the town, where I was born Lived a man, called Stevie Bruce and he went to Sunderland he was fat; his face was puce Stevie Bruce has gone and lost the fans gone and lost the fans gone and lost the fans....
1) It had to be Monday. Won't happen before Wolves. 2) It's possible, but this rubbish can't surely be allowed to continue. SB thinks he's getting abuse now! 3) Looks like number 3. OK we aren't winning but we're not getting beat 3/4 every week. Even though we see the garbage on the pitch is mostly down to team selection and tactis we are on the whole in the game. I think the first time we get a 0-3 or a 0-4 ES will act. As we all know after the Wigan game we were all well pissed off. I think very luckily for SB their winner came in injury time. Lets just say they scored on 75/80 minutes. The crowd would have been in a frenzy never mind the odd name calling. ES would surely have acted. As I say a bit of a wolloping at Wolves and he will surely be gone.
Since when did this just suddenly occur? Forgive me for thinking this has been building and building for almost a year now.
This is a disgrace. Short needs to sack him this week. The belak winter ahead comment is very apt in my view.
MON said he was ready to return to football 5/6 weeks ago. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but did MON's wife not pass away after her illness or am I thinking of someone else. I know that happened to Hendry. Anyway he said he was ready.
What happened I read a load of posts on here yesterday that he'd resigned or was facing the sack last night? He looks like a defeated man, he's obviously not going to improve things much before the turn of the year so I think if your owner decides to keep him on then he's resigning himself and the club to no improvement until that time, which could by that time be unrepairable. That's why I think he's getting sacked/he'll come to an agreement to leave the club this week, so for me Cest, it's your option 1 but with a bit of an edit: You won't get a replacement this week. It's likely that you'll get a replacement in before the transfer window but I highly doubt that your owner is going to rush into a new appointment given the delicate situation your club are in. Unless of course it's already been done i.e. another manager is already waiting in the wings but I'd like to think they'd give SB a bit more respect than that.
Cant' see it happening, then again stra.................. on a different note, anyone heard of him?.....Bruce meanwhile, is considering turning to Sir Alex Ferguson again as he battles to save his job by taking Manchester United youngster Robbie Brady on loan. (Daily Mail)
