20110629. Wickham hails Bruce lure Striker delighted with Sunderland switch By Pete O'Rourke - Follow me: @skysportspeteo. Last Updated: June 29, 2011 5:35pm ....Sunderland new boy Connor Wickham has admitted Steve Bruce played a big part in luring him to the Stadium of Light. Wickham has signed a four-year deal on Wearside after passing a medical and agreeing personal terms on Wednesday. Sunderland agreed an initial fee of £8million for Wickham, which could rise to £12million for the highly-rated teenager. The likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham have all been credited with an interest in Wickham in the past, but the England Under-21 international admits Bruce sold him on the switch to Sunderland. "Once the fee was agreed and I met with the manager, he basically told me everything about the club and the ambitions, and it was sold." Conor Wickham on joining Sunderland Quotes of the week "Once the fee was agreed and I met with the manager, he basically told me everything about the club and the ambitions, and it was sold," Wickham told the club's official website. Done and dusted "Now everything is done and dusted, I just really can't wait to get started. "Ever since the speculation, I have never felt pressured. I have never felt intimidated by what has gone on off the pitch or who has come in or anything like that. "But now I am obviously relieved to have everything done. The weight has been lifted off my shoulders now. "I can get back to playing football, and I know where I am going to be next season. I just want to play now." .
Hope he's told big chris to move his BMX out of of his parking space... I'm intrigued by this signing, whilst i have reservations, it may be the start of something new, and i like the way some of his other signings are shaping up...
I think this is the second part of the promised "magic-carpet ride"...us Sunderland fans will think about getting laid all close season,and beyond!!
Its funny but if two weeks ago you had said we will sign Larssen and a chap called Dong then pay 8mil for Wickham I would have been less than happy. Now we have done it and the plan takes shape I am getting excited.
Journalist Shaun Custis was on talkshite radio this morning saying that Bruce is very good at selling the club he is at and can be persuasive in making the argument for moving to that club. He will have pointed out that he would get more games at SAFC than he would at a top four club and at that stage in his career it would be the right move at the right time. Bruce seems to have a lot of respect in media circles and seems to be making better progress in the transfer market than I expected.
Superb, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in that meeting. It would be great to hear what Bruce actually said?
Yeah, I get it. Bruce buys second division players and tells them Sunderland would be a good shop window for where he's really going in two years time - just like Darren Bent and Judas Henderson did. That is to say, Sunderland is a feeder club for the really big boys, just like Wigan and Birmingham were. Ambitions? - Ha, ha, ha, ha ha. Does anybody really believe Bruce's sh*t? I'm astonished at the very existence of the Bruce-in brigade/posse/mob (or whatever insults they could offer us but couldn't take themselves). How unbelievably gullible are they?
Can't really argue with any of that. It would appear that Steve Bruce has a silver tongue and is capable of selling sand to the arabs. A great skill to have, but I bet he never says to any of them "would you trust this face?"
buns. If we can make a big profit on Wickham like we did with Henderson then it will mean he will have been very successful - which cannot be a bad thing. Would you rather we hadn't signed him? How unbelievably bitter are you? thats your opinion about Bruce, fair enough.
Well, in those terms, I agree with you. In financial terms, Bruce did very well with the transfers of Darren and Judas. But, having let them build their careers here, and having let them establish their England careers here, and having seen them play like they didn't want to be here for the last six months, I think I have a right to look back on those two twats with some resentment, don't you? And especially Judas - Bent was a southerner who signed for us as a career move and left for a better career move, whereas Judas was born and bred in Sunderland, and he screwed us up far more than Darren ever did. Whackham is probably a good signing in that way, too - I think we'll make a very tidy profit out of him when he moves to a good club. But excuse me if I laugh at the "ambitions" bit - it's obvious that SAFC doesn't have any, and it doesn't make me "unbelievably bitter" to say so, does it?
Dear Syd I'm rather drunk at the minute after attending a successful quiz night throuh at Seaton. However, I feel the need to say that if you ever move to Cyprus, it will be to the detrement to not just SAFC, but to the North East as a whole. Cyprus: You are a Prince among men.
Gullible Im not. Nor am I all bitter and twisted like you I and never have been. All this is is a childish attempt to rain on the parade and it really is quite pathetic. I am Logical, unbiased and fair minded. I'm not Bruce's biggest fan but I am impressed with what he is doing right now and will support it. If I see failure on the horizon I will comment accordingly. I realise how difficult it must be for someone as bitter and anti Bruce as you but this posting of yours really shows your resentment over the fact that he may just succeed. Gret a life (possibly at NE1)
