More Of The Same ... Mark Huges Anyone?

Steve Bruce will meet with Chairman Ellis Short and development director Niall Quinn later this week to determine whether he wants to carry on as Sunderland manager.

A large section of the club’s support turned on Bruce following the 2-1 home defeat by Wigan Athletic last weekend and although there is still backing for him in the boardroom, there are also doubts.

Short and Quinn are wary of having their hand forced by the growing band of discontented among their followers, yet they also know they cannot ignore them.
Discreet enquiries have been made about the availability of potential replacements and Mark Hughes is understood to be very keen to take the job should his former Manchester United team-mate be relieved of it.

The anti-Bruce feeling has grown steadily over the last few weeks largely because of the team’s woeful home form.

Sunderland have won just three times at the Stadium of Light in 2011 and are yet to see enough evidence a new look side — Bruce was forced to sign 11 new players over the summer – is capable of gelling.

The team are struggling to score goals following the sudden departure of Asamoah Gyan, who decided to move to the Middle East and a lucrative contract with Al-Ain, and have failed to adequately replace Darren Bent, who was sold to Aston Villa for £24 million back in January.

Although the mood has been tense ever since the North East derby defeat to Newcastle back in August, it no longer feels like it is a vocal minority calling for Bruce’s head, the shock of the Wigan defeat snapping patience and erasing goodwill.
Nevertheless, Telegraph Sport understands Quinn is keen to give Bruce another two games to turn things around and expects him to still be in charge when the Black Cats travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.

Wolves are one place below Sunderland in the table and that trip to face another side near the foot of the table is followed by a home game against Blackburn Rovers, which means Bruce has two games Sunderland, on paper, are expected to win.

The fact the first of those is away from home and means there are unlikely to be any mass demonstrations against Bruce also potentially buys some time.

Short is willing to listen to Quinn, although ultimately the final decision will be his and the American — who does not speak publicly — knows he has to consider alternatives in the event Bruce goes.

Should Bruce fail to lead his side to victory in both games, it seems certain he will be replaced and contingency plans are being drawn up for that worst case scenario.
Hughes and Martin O’Neill are both out of work and are names under consideration, although former England manager Steve McClaren would also be interested should the position become vacant.
For the first time Bruce’s future is being seriously questioned by the club’s hierarchy, particularly by Short who is concerned by the strength of feeling against the manager and the negative impact it could have on the business.

However, there is also a genuine desire for stability and Bruce — who had made steady progress during his previous two seasons at the helm – will be given the chance to silence his critics if Quinn and Short believe he still has the desire to do so.
Bruce was badly hurt by the personal nature of Saturday’s abuse, particularly as it came when his parents were at the Stadium of Light to hear it and the fact much of it focused on the fact he is a Geordie.

That anger, though, has turned into determination and Bruce has told friends he wants to prove people wrong despite the fact so many supporters feel the time has come for a change.
A poll on the Sunderland Echo website showed 60 per cent of fans wanted Bruce to be sacked with more than 10000 people voting.
At one stage that figure was as high as 85 per cent, with some supporters claiming on Twitter the poll had been hijacked by Newcastle supporters.

Both Quinn and Short are keen to discuss the club’s plight with him before a final decision is made, although have sensibly decided a cooling-off period is needed for everyone to take stock of their positions.
Short has been away on other business this week and Quinn has returned to Ireland, leaving Bruce to take training on Monday as normal.

 

Come on Ellis... Sort it out before the weekend

 

My gut feeling is Bruce will be here game by game from now until the end of December.

 

A big fat NO to Steve McClaren.

 

i share your dread, it'll be too late then i fear. i think we'll be languishing in the bottom 3 a few wins from 17th

 

MoN 1st choice for me.

Hughes wouldn't upset me though.

However, like someone has just said, I get the feeling that this is going to drag on and on for the rest of the year and that's the worst outcome possible. I'd sooner Short just come out and tell us he is here until the summer tobe honest, rather than just drifting along like this. We need stability one way or the other.

As for Bruce being upset, I sincerely bloody hope he is. I've been bloody upset since February and if his parents were there, you can bet that unlike the rest of us, they neither paid sod all to see it, haven't had to put up with 8 home wins in 26 games and certainly won't be coming back to watch any more ****e next time.

We are stuck with this loser and that's why we are all so pissed off. Far from an improvement, we've collapsed in the last year and despite his supporters saying otherwise, he is totally responsible for that demise.

 

If Short lets this go on till Xmas, then I am pretty sure will go down. If we replace Bruce with either MON or Hughes, will have a chance of finishing in the bottom 5, just not sure of the position...but at least we have a chance.

 

What is that then?

 

My gut feeling is he'll be given the Wolves match to pull something miraculous out of the bag. If he fails, and we're beaten I just can't see how he would be accepted against Blackburn and it could get very messy. Pretty sure both Bruce, Quinn, Short and us fans would prefer any such situation being avoided.

 

If we lose at Wolves there might only be 10,000 at the Blackburn game. Does anyone remember the Plymouth match at roker park ? 8,000 on a rainy night, i was there!. And mentioning MON does anyone know why his wife is ill, she seems to have the ilness for a long time now. I hope she gets well soon, and i hope i am not intruding on anything personal, and Martin may be a great manager for us.

 

I now feel that with Bruce having well and truly lost the support of the vast majority of fans, his position at the club has now become untenable.
However, the thought of Mark Hughes becoming his replacement does not fill me with joy. Although he was undoubtedly an exceptional player with a great attitude, I feel that the clubs that he has managed have all played a rather dull and defensive brand of football.
If Bruce does go, my first choice for a replacement would be Martin O'Neil, but Bruce and the team willl still be getting my full vocal support until he does leave.

 

Well said MrRaw..it's a low ebb for the club once again.....but as always it will bounce back, bigger and stronger..

 

I think we have around 30,000 season ticket holder so it won't get too low but I know what your saying for sure.
As for MON's wife, it seems like 5+ years. I thought she had passed away but maybe wrong. Anyway he did say he was ready to return to football 5/6 weeks ago so here's hoping she's doing fine.

 

Unfortunately it looks like that's whats happening. I wouldn't be suprised if Ellis has told Bruce he needs to win at molineux or he's gone.. The thing is, that's not enough. We could very well scrape a boring 1-0 against a poor wolves side, but if we do it playing 4-5-1 (obviously switching to the infamous 2-7-1 at some point, then chucking another striker on with 5 minutes to go), he should still **** off imo. It's not the results that are pissing me off, it's Bruce's unbearably defensive mentality / tactics, and the ****e way he sets the team up.

If we were to win the next 3 on the bounce and be top10, but do it playing **** football with bendtner up top on his own i'd still want the ****er gone. It seems like his gameplan is "just defend a bit and hope seb scores a screamer". If we beat wolves and blackburn 5-1 then lost 4-3 to spurs, but played exciting attacking football, and blooded young noble, played players in their correct positions, and stopped this obsession with his ****ing "favourites" and mixed things up a bit, I'd get right behind him.

The problem is, he's currently setting us up not to lose, once in a while it works and you get a flukey win, but in the long run it always ends in tears. That's why, if ellis is determined to give bruce another lifeline, he needs to take into consideration more than just results, because there is far more to it than that.

Rant over!

 

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.