Fickle Calls for Bruce’s Head Desperately Out of Touch with Reality
Features, News | Jonothan Scollen | February 8, 2010 at 11:22 pm
We begin the month of February with our future shrouded in doubt and fear due to our plummet down the league table. The days of defeating Liverpool and Arsenal seem decades ago with 11 games passing us by without a victory to celebrate. Our season seems to be turning into a working example of the law of diminishing returns. Sitting four points away from 18th place after gaining just two points from home games against Stoke and Wigan, confidence is at rock bottom.
Some people seem to think that the best way of conquering this drop in form is to demand that Bruce be sacked as he is doing nothing for the club apart from dragging us backwards. The Stadium of Light, as well as football generally, would be a lot better off without these irrational fair-weather friends. Showing disappointment towards a poor performance is understandable and healthy, but acting like Mike Ashley halfway through the season is nothing other than anti-support.
Firstly let’s deal with the question that is imposed by choosing to sack Bruce: who do we get to replace him? I have a feeling the same people that want the sacking also envisaged Mancini or Jol taking over once Sbragia had stepped down. The first task of any Sunderland manager is to keep us in the league, not get us into the top four. Shame on you if once uttering this sort of frivolous garbage you then attack Newcastle fans for thinking they are a huge club. Fans who want Bruce out don’t think about the consequences just the action. Who would they rather have? Who would actually want the job? Do they realize that they are indirectly attacking Quinn?
There is only one man I would consider replacing Bruce with and that would be Mark Hughes. This is of course making the hugely arrogant assumption that he would want the post at all. Say we made the job available to Hughes only for him to reject the opportunity we are then left with the Megson’s and Curbishley’s of the football world. What a step in the right direction that would be. Newcastle applied these tactics; where the fans virtually ran the management side of things, removing Allardyce for Keegan leaving Ashley desperate, enter Kinnear who stepped down after health issues which led to Ashley again capitulating to the fans in the appointment of Shearer. What happened to Newcastle is common knowledge as is the fact that Allardyce took control of Blackburn and saved them from relegation.
People who call for Bruce to be booted out cannot then go onto say how happy they are in having a good chairman. Who do they think appoints the managers? When Bob Murray put people such as Howard Wilkinson in charge he took some flack for that, so why aren’t the people that attack Bruce attacking Quinn? If Steve Bruce was such an awful appointment the implications towards the employer are obvious, you can’t just criticize a la carte.
The performance in the transfer windows has been excellent with only a solitary mistake: the sale of Collins. Cana, Cattermole and Bent have been tremendous signings with the likes of Turner, Da Silva and Mensah providing credible competition in defense. Kilgallon, Hutton and Benjani have provided further depth in weaker areas of the squad. Deadwood has been removed and youth implemented into the first team, something that has provided us with Henderson. Injuries have stretched the defense to the point of desperation and although not the sole reason for our decline, it is no coincidence that the slump coincides with a queue for the physio’s room.
The naïve fans that still drag up Bruce’s Newcastle United roots really are plucking at straws. If he is such a die hard Magpie fan why didn’t he rush from Wigan to try and save his beloved club from the drop? The man is completely career driven, that is why he left Wigan for Sunderland – he knows which club he can take further. Like Quinn, I am fully behind Bruce and believe that he will eventually lead us to establishing ourselves in the top league. You would have thought that we had finished in the European spots the previous couple of seasons the way some of the fans have reacted to our recent predicament.
All that can be said to the arrogant and deluded groups of so called fans that want a change in management is that I look forward to the seasons in which Bruce proves his worth with time being the fundamental ingredient of his success. Deeming Bruce as someone not good enough for the club is nothing but churlish and pompous. Nobody needs to be told that this isnt good enough, what the team needs is support. We have a man in charge who is slowly building something here, but we also have fans, just over halfway into the season, saying his time is up. If they were listened to, just as they were at Newcastle, we would fall. Thankfully this is impossible as we are fortunate enough to have a logical and independent chairman, and we are fortunate enough to have Steve Bruce.
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Good article.
Fantastically written, agree with every word.
Fantastic article. Understandable reaction from the crowd, but this is not a quick fix. I truly believe we have the most genuine football chairman that the Premier league has seen who does as much for the club off the field as any one off high profile results on it. SAFC have never had such a potentially successful network of scouts which will be realised on the pitch. Steve Bruce has provided this and even though we want to win everything today, we will be more the richer tomorrow, keep the faith, SAFC 38 year
spot on well written lets hope we look up not down from now till the end of the the season 1 win and off we go climbing bring on pompey FTM
Couldn’t agree more.
I wrote a similar letter to ALS,pointing out that Bruce needs time & patience.
He will get there if he is given that time, but the team, as you rightly point out, needs our support – and NOW.
Steve Bruce may or may not be the right man for the Sunderland job, time will tell potentially with our Premiership credentials not intact. However his handling of the Kenwyn Jones/ Liverpool saga was very poor and the whole episode leaves doubt in your mind. Bruce should have come out catagorically and denied he was for sale, he did not until the transfer window was closed. What message does this send to Jones other than quite clearly had Liverpool put 14m on the table then Jones would have been sold. Bruce like Keane seems to have the ability to isolate and ailienate players and this is probably going some way to explain the dressing room problems and the abysmal performances of late. Our loss to Chelsea under Bruce was as inept as our performance at Everton under Keane the season before. Under Bruce as for Keane it is difficult to spot our game plan and tactics. Everybody can see that we are desperately short in ideas from midfield and that we lack width and players with the ability to get to the by-line. Kean did nothing to solve this and neither has Bruce. The feelings for Bruce to be removed, which I do not agree with at this stage in the season, are manifest of the deep rooted fears of ‘we have seen all this before’ only too often. The Club are in a deep malaise and Bruce is really required at this time to stand up and be counted, however the eminations coming from him and the dressing room do not lead one towards optimisim.
Excellent article. Obviously the supporters are frustrated and by paying for their tickets (among the lowest prices in the Premier League) they are entitled to express their feelings – but booing the team is definitely not going to help improve our position! Why don’t the fair weather moaners just stay away and come back, as they always do, when results improve. They are probably the frustrating “fans” who take their seats 10mins after kick off,leave 10mins before half time,return 10mins after half time and leave 10mins before the end – no one will miss these 50mins per game so called fans! The SSOL often looks more like an ant hill then a Premier League stadium. With regard to the totally negative comments of CSB – why don’t you apply for the manager’s job you obviously know more about solving the problems than he does! Steve Bruce is by far our best hope for success in the Premier League so lets all get behind him and his team and rid the SSOL of the unhelpful negative vibes that are currently worsening a difficult situation. Keep the faith and lets raise the roof in our support of the lads for the rest of the season.
That for sure! Thats for sure! as he so often says but let me tell you there,s only one thing “for sure” under Steve Bruce and thats relegation. Where does all this false optimism come from in his average ability, just look at the mans record,if we consider ourselves in the shadow of Wigan or Birmingham even Crystal Palace then lead on Pied Piper we will follow. This is Sunderland though with a bigger following than those three clubs put together with a billionaire owner and a Chairman with genuine love and concern for the club. It makes for grim reading when the Tony Pulis,s Roy Hogison and Sam Alladyces of this world make a fist of survival with a fraction of the resources available to Bruce.They succeed through commitment,a sound game plan,and excellent man management but where is our share of those valuable commodities. If Bruce is keeping them up his sleeve I think he better play his hand now and loose his obsession with fragile defenders and hack and chop midfielders. Finally please don,t play the if you attack the Manager you attack the Chairman routine it won,t wash. In this life you live by your decisions and Ellis Short being a billionare usually gets most of his calls right. So I think its fair to assume if you are in charge of one of his businesses and you ain,t delivering there is no place to hide. Where did the rational come from that considered this small time manager as progress. Void of a game plan, mis placed commitment (worst disciplinary record) lacking in confidence I ask what is he paid for? While time is on our side Niall hear my plea swallow your pride admit the mistake and flick this imposter or both our nightmares will be realised with Sunderlands relegation replaced by those up the road from the darkside.And thats for sure!
Thanks for the feedback Paul but I think we are going to have to agree to disagree. How you can attack bruce as a bad appointment but go on to applaud Quinn for his abilities as Chairman baffles me. As for the progress point, who would you rather have? We are a club that hasn’t had more than four years in the Premier League and have only had two top ten finishes in all of the years we have been in the top league. 13th place is progress for us and Steve is one of those managers that can achieve things with time. He led Wigan to 11th place, I would take that any day. I doubt Short would give someone running one of his companies six month. We finished 16th due to teams around us loosing last season, this is not a squad that was going to fly into Europe. Fulham finished seventh last season which gave them a solid base to work on. At least this is a manager with Premier League experience and you cant argue that his scouting system isnt too shabby. Money is only so much, we are a club that hasnt finished in the top half of the table since 2001. Who exactly did you have in mind rather than bruce?
OK Jonothan I respect your arguement thats fine we agree to differ but let me say there,s no need to be baffled regarding my comments regarding the Chairman. I am a ardent fan of Niall Quinn after all without him where would we be? I am convinced he acted out of genuine belief that Bruce was the answer the one to stabalise the club and kick on, the fault does not lie with Quinn but the manager who has let him down. I am sure Niall will be deeply anxious at our present plight but let us realise he is human and accept anyone can make a mistake he,s not to be damned for that. The question is how long does he keep the faith with Bruce. Imagine for a moment the last 13 games had been the start to our season we would have nine points out of a possible thirty nine, do you think patience would have been so plentiful in that scenario. The way its turned out its relegation by stealth! However I remain unconvinced your confidence in Bruce is well placed, if you believe he will turn it around in our next six games which include Arsenal,Liverpool,Man City and Villa then my concern is misplaced. With thirteen games remaining do we gamble on the forlorn hope that Bruces message stops falling on deaf ears, magically injecting resilience and concentration too levels that last beyond 90 minutes. You ask who did I have in mind to do a better job, well, since you mention Fulham and Europe they have a pretty good manager remember he took over the shambles left by Sanchez and built a team with only a handful of copper in his pocket. Blackburn also knew what they were doing with Big Sam when Sunderland dithered and rolled the dice with Ricky Spragia. Its all subjective because we don,t know how anyone would perform until they have the reins in their grasp but change usually brings reaction and never more is it needed than right now. Acting while there is time may turn the juggernaut from going over the cliff.Failing this season will be the cruellest blow of all I hope your belief and poker face is steadier than mine because I fear Bruce has no answer and is in a job to big for his experience. We are playing for huge stakes and we will know in the next six games if the faith in SB is built on concrete or ash.
I can understand what you’re saying and for the record im not attacking Quinn at all as you’re right in that we would most likely be playing Leeds if he hadn’t have taken over. Bruce was chosen because he was the best candidate at the time as far as Quinn thought. It’s too early to be calling for his head is more my point in that the next six games might be daunting but there is no team in this league that has an easy schedule. We also have Fulham, West Ham, Bolton, Birmingham, Hull, Wolves and Burnley left to play with four of those games at home. If we end up finishing 13th that is tremendous. I do hope that when we were flying you were singing Bruce’s praise because some people, not you in particular, do seem to crave for things go wrong in order to whine. Sacking people in February is too much of a knee jerk panic tactic that does nothing for stability. We could yet finish 11th as well as 18th, and untill that has been settled the jury for bruce is well and truly out, even if this run is incredibly frustrating. Examples like Hodgeson and Allardyce are all well and good once they have had success but Newcastle treat Allardyce just as we are treating Bruce now. Your right again about the subjective issue and all we can do is speculate who would do what with the money but as of yet Bruce has neither succeeded or failed and people shouldn’t forget that.