Today saw the end of Steve Bruce as manager of sunderland. Sunderland are one point behind us, with very similar results. I may be delusional saying this, but personally I see us as a club with very similar goals and expected standards in the premier league; both SHOULD be bottom of the top half of the table. Simply then, why has Bruce been got rid of, and yet there is very little talk of the same happening to Jol? Personally I would hate to see Jol leave unless we take a serious down hill from where we are now, but I am finding myself wondering why this is the case? Any thoughts..
Bruce has had 3 years, 5 transfer windows, spent a fortune on players, imported 11 new faces last window and is now doing worse than previous seasons. Jol has had 5 months, one transfer window, we are in roughly the same domestic position as last year and he is conducting a european campaign, which looks like we have a good chance of qualifying from the group stage again, for only the third time in our history. There was some talk early in the season from some on here wanting Jol to go and suggesting after 45 minutes of play that Ruiz was "rubbish" - you can still find the thread, but it did descend into some unpleasantness, uncharacteristic of our board.
All true, but you cant exactly say that he took over a club in turmoil. I think part of it must be the way we play- when going over our results, even when ignoring the matches that we probably should have got more out of and only counting the ones where it seems unreal that we didn't (Everton, for example, and arguably spurs) then we would be comfortable top table.
Maybe some similarities, but more differences.... Sunderland fans have been hacked-off (mild version) with Bruce for a long-time. Last April, while losing 2-0 to us, the Stadium of light emptied half its attendance with THIRTY MINUTES to go (before we scored our 3rd), something I cannot recollect (through my rose coloured specs) happening at The Cottage. MJ has been in the job 5 minutes (ok 5 months) and needs time. We all know that a revolving door approach rarely leads to success. We'd be crazy to fire him!
If anyone deserved the axe it was Steve Bruce. Nice guy, a good manager and I wish him well, but few teams have spent more money in the last couple of years than Sunderland, and look what that investment has gotten him. Might be a good job for Mark Hughes.
Nobody said he did. But we were in limbo having lost a manager who was apparently too ambitious for us. Look at him now - jobless and looking at the possibility of managing Sunderland. Bravo Sparky.
As few others have said we are comparing two different situations... We have been playing far too long this season. Jol is re-adjusting to the EPL and we are doing pretty well. I believe in luck and we have been unlucky in many games. Bruce as their own fans say have been lacking a tactic mind. This is not new. It was the case last year when Sunderland's form nose-dived during the second half of the season.
