Historically, we have had a long list of managers who we didnât rate and an even longer list of players that were useless, but at the time they were all we could recruit. We had a poor manager and poor players together at the same time and that pairing meant we were happy to be served mediocrity. Would a player of the ability of Gareth Hall get anywhere near the squad today? Would Darren Williams, Kevin Kyle? No of course not. We have moved on and quite rightly so. If we apply that to the managers today would we employ a Buxton? Wilkinson? No. If you have poor players at your disposal, we will vent out of sheer frustration, that you as a manager are ****e, for not winning more games but we know deep down that you donât have a lot to work with so we understand your problems. If you are given no money to buy better players and you have to bring in the likes of Chris Byrne or Jeff Whitley, then realistically what chance do you have of becoming a legend to the fans? Absolutely none. A lot of Sunderland still talk fondly of Mick McCarthy, a genuine guy who did the best he could do with not very much. If we had given this squad of players to a man like big Mick, what could he have done with them? (Hopefully played them in the right positions or at the very least addressed the weakness in the squad and bought as required to correct it). When he was manager here, the board gave him very little financial backing and as we all saw we were poor, but we all knew he was a good manager, as he has shown at Wolves he has built a very capable team with some very good players and a strong team spirit, because he has had the backing of a board willing to invest. Now we have a man in charge that has finances at his disposal that few managers of Sunderland could have dreamt about (Keane is of course excluded from that list) with better players comes (quit rightly) a higher expectation. Sadly we seem to have returned to the managers of previous year; tactically clueless, incapable of making a decision, poor substitutions at the wrong time etc. etc. If ever a Sunderland manager had the opportunity to become a legend to the fans, then Steve Bruce had that chance, and sadly he has shown he is incapable of achieving that. A new name has been added to the previous Sunderland managers who have failed, but rarely perhaps for a Sunderland Manager his name has been added not because of little investment or a poor squad of players. His name is added because he is simply incapable of managing a club where the expectations go further than simply survival or happy to finish in the bottom third of the table.
