There has been much debate over recent days about whether we want Bruce in, or Bruce out? Only time and Ellis Short knows the true answer to that conundrum but in making up his mind there are some interesting items to consider. 75 years since we last were crowned Champions of England and 4 decades since we actually won anything. 75 years and 1 trophy to boast about for a club dubbed by many as a sleeping giant. Comatose would describe our catatonic state rather than sleeping. Decade after decade of abject failure has befallen this club under many different regimes. We have become sterile to its repetitive nature and yet we all still have that glimmer of hope that one day we might actually amount to something again. Reclaim former glories etc. Well, IMO, we just missed the boat this season and is the main reason for my anger and frustration. You see, this season was a poor standard EPL and teams like Liverpool were weak and vulnerable. Villa slumped; Everton had as many injuries as us and even the established clubs such as Spurs and Arsenal have had strange results to bear. At the turn of the year, with some 16 games to play, we had 35 points, were 6th in the league on the shirt-tails of the Arsenals and Chelsea's and looking like a club on the up. We were 9pts clear of our nearest rivals at that point as well. I'm not suggesting we would have challenged the top 4 but was it really that much of a belief that we could have been top 6 or 7? Really? Then in one fell swoop, the season was turned on its head. We sold Bent to Villa. Not only did we sell one of the top strikers in Europe, we decided not to replace him or bring in a short term solution. Knowing that he wanted away back in August, why were there no provision in place for the likelihood he would go? Bruce arrogantly decided we'd be fine. However we all knew, in fact the whole League knew, that our team couldn't score in a brothel with fresh new tenners strapped to their bell ends and Darren Bent was the difference between us surviving or being relegated the previous year. This has to rate as the most monumental piece of gross mismanagement from any manager/chairman in our history. On the verge of something very special and maybe something that could have changed the perception of this club for a generation to come, it was just flushed down the ****ter in a single act and we have to all just accept this and move on supporting the manager going forward. Bruce should be sacked for that decision alone in my opinion and if I were Short, I would be very reticent in giving him another single penny of my hard earned money. What happened? Did Bruce just **** himself and panic? Was he so naive as to think a team with no goals in it, could still remain competitive without its main goal threat? Was he just thick? Or was he malicious? Whatever the answer, Bruce has single handedly cost this club it's chance to progress IMO. Liverpool will be a different proposition next season now. Villa will probably appoint a new manager and with a top quality striker on their fold, be much better next term, as will Everton, Stoke (playing Europa football and attracting better players) Fulham (maybe playing their 2nd season in Europe in 3 years)and Spurs. The top 10 will be much stronger and in all of this, are we tweaking our squad to compete? Are we looking for a couple of names to take us to that next step? No. We are looking for 6,7 or maybe 8 changes. A whole new team in fact. Its pathetic. The door was ajar in January for a club who dared to believe. We chose not to enter. Now, that door will be slammed shut and maybe we will not get another chance. Bruce still has many friends but I don't know why. I hold him culpable for our failings this season and he is out of his depth here. He is a Wigan or Huddersfield manager not a Sunderland saviour. Much was said 2 years ago that he would use us to get the Man Utd job? Its laughable. He is closer to the Darlington job than the Man Utd one and I don't think he has the wherewithal to make it here at Sunderland. I'd love to eat humble pie but I dont think I will be. Bruce is a walking corpse as manager of this club and hopefully Short will act soon to make the decison that has to be made if we are to really move on.
Who would Bruce have replaced him with though? We dont know what happened behind the scenes, maybe Bruce had someone lined up for it to fall through at the last minute? Maybe there was nobody of the quality he wanted available? Maybe he really didnt see Bent leaving, coming? Who knows? I think its ridiculous to suggest Bruce is sacked for 1 decision, Bruce has bought some good players for Sunderland, give him time to build his own team, he does need to stop loaning players, we need to buy and add a bit of grit to the backbone of the team, we need to get rid of Mensah, Angeleri and Riveros. We need to buy a big imposing central midfielder and striker and central defender, big 6 foot plus guys who are imposing and not afraid to put in a shift, we can add flair players around them. Gyan and Sess for example. KTF, we can still finish top half this season and push on next.
The sad reality is unless you have enough money to get into the top four and a Champions League place, the only trophies Sunderland can look forward to winning are the two domestic cups. If you do get into the Europa League, that is a bit of a poisoned chalice, cos' unless you have a big squad playing lots of midweek games miles abroad s generally followed by domestic losses and a slump down the league. I'm not sure what Sir Naill told SHort what he is buying into but that is the reality, there is not a level playing field in the EPL and there is not likely to be one in the foreseeable future. Selling your leading (and one of the EPLS) goalscorer without a replacement is as Cest' says probably the biggest mistake any club management can make. The price seems to have been ã18m, and if true, we sold him cheaply as well. We also seem to have overall a team of youngsters and when games are going against you their heads go down and they wilt, where are the big strong seasoned pros so when the going gets tough the tough get going. IMHO we have a very young and therefore unbalanced side missing experience, I surmise this is part of an overall plan,if it is, it is a poor plan. It is impossible of course not to acknowledge that injuries have taken their toll, but that just says to me that SB is unlucky and we do not want a unlucky manager. Finally I know I witnessed many poor (in particular) second half displays at the SoL and at times I just could not believe it, is SB totally incapable of imbibing spirit and motivation into a side, also who was that team at Sid James park that was wearing R & W, not a proud Sunderland team surely! I presume SB is at last chance saloon and he will know that, is he about to embark upon panic buys a la Reid with that useless Norwegian Tor Andres Flo? Yes I know we played well at the start of the season and when that happens managers do not have a lot to do, they just have to ensure they do not screw it up. Managers earn their corn when the results are poor, SB twice now has shown he cannot manage well when a team is stringing together poor results, he just comes out with a load of excuses. Micky mouse defending which we suffer from is sorted out on the training pitch, or should be..there was no evidence of that in the 2nd half of the season.
Dont know about that, niether do you,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, agree with most of the rest though, but as Cest said, only Short has the answers.
u dont know that??? really??? hes ploughed money left right and centre into the club, you ungrateful twat
It's difficult to argue with the OP and Sunderpitt's comment. Maybe O'Neill is the man as Cest would have it. I suppose I'm one of the sheep, as long as SB is the manager I'm 100% behind him and when he's replaced I'll be behind the new manager. If it comes to that M'O'N is my choice. A case of 'The king is dead, long live the King'
My main gripe over this article is the way it has demonised Bruce over the Bent affair (and no, I'm not saying that he is a two-timing homosexual). For me it was the fact that Bent went behind the clubs back to foster a deal with Villa which I find unforgivable, and once he had done that there is no way that we could keep him. As for a replacement, was there really any realistic candidates available in the january window?
I obviously don't know either Bill or Chris, but I have a sneaky feeling that Chris wouldn't have the balls to call Bill a twat to his face. Shouting from behind the bike shed probably.
Still can't stop yourself from being offensive can you Chris. Ellis isn't the one being critiscised here. We all know what he has done. When you are a little more mature you will understand.
Cest - some excellent points here. I too think we missed a golden opportunity this year. Usually, there's a top 4, then a second tier of about 5 or 6 clubs, then a third tier stuttering between mid-table and relegation zone, and a bottom 6 or 7 who are constantly sh***ing themselves. This season, that second tier has shrunk to 'Spurs, Liverpool and (maybe) Everton, while half the league were in the third tier! Any club with an ounce of ambition and drive could have broken into a second tier almost advertising vacancies this year. Seventeen points out of our final 38 would have seen us comfortably there. I agree, it won't be so easy next year - Villa won't stay where they are, and Bolton, Fulham and Stoke all look like they're ready for going forward. KTF - we can still finish top half this season - if Fulham, West Brom, Bolton, Newcastle and Villa lose this weekend! Otherwise FTF, we need answers.
I'm one of the sheep, as long as SB is the manager I'm 100% behind him and when he's replaced I'll be behind the new manager. If it come Charley It's calle sitting on the fence.
When the Manchester clubs leading 'lights' Rooney and Tevez wanted to leave a way was found to make them stay, could we not have done the same, or was this a lesson two inexperienced guys had to have as part of their learning curve? Or we could have said to Villa OK we agree to the Bent sale but we must have say Agbonlahor as as a makeweight/loanee for the rest of the season. After many years in business, experience tells me their is always a deal to be made. If Quinny and Bruce (anything to do with daughters and I will be more furious than now!) were pissed off with Bent for still wanting to leave after supposedly resolving the issue in the summer, they should not have let him go without sorting some replacement, they it seemed 'cut their nose to spite their face'
If SB is to be criticised over the Bent affair (and I'm not sure he could have done anything), then surely it's reasonable to take a balanced view and also look at the positives during the past year. Now that the season has finished on a bit of a damp note, it's so easy to forget the joy of supporters at the turn of the year. A finishing place in the top 6 or 7 was being touted as a possibility and who can forget the many posters dreaming of trips into Europe? Unfortunately it didn't happen but I'm sure that SB will have learnt some valuable lessons over past 5 months and hopefully this will be reflected in the performances next season. Whilst it's natural for supporters to have aspirations to join the elite in the top four, we need to be realistic in our expectations otherwise it will be a journey of despair and anguish.
its easy saying replace bent with a top striker but as we all know top strikers tend too not want to come to sunderland chamakh being the latest i know of.
Two things, first this Bruce out thing is very boring and before anyone says its not a Bruce out, we know it is. Second thing is lets forget about Bent in January and remember him in August,Sept,Oct,Nov,Dec. What form is was in then and how good he would have been if we had forced him to stay. Now if we start a thread about how Bent spent the Monday afternoon in an hotel room in Birmingham!!
Bent had been **** for months, and although we were shocked at the time, very few of us felt the worlds end was near. Very few of us where in favour of bringing in Fuller. Many where chucking about names like Hulk and Suarez. Bruce, unquestionably had the rug pulled at that point, and, this being my first comment on these rumours, when Bent left Bruce's face was the face of a shocked and stunned manager, who looked concerned, not the face of a manager who had edged his star striker through the exits for getting a hold of his daughter.
