Sunderland Sacking Bruce Will Prove To Be A Mistake

So Sunderland yesterday sacked Steve Bruce. Some reporters consider him an old school manager, more brawn than brain, and it looks like he will be replaced by Martin O'Neill. So is that a fair summary of the situation?

First of all let me firmly nail my colours to this mast, Steve Bruce is a legend, he is by far the best player never to play for England and he has one vital attribute in that he is a winner.

Only Roy Keane in modern Manchester United times has had the drive to take a losing team and make it a winning team. Steve scored a goal every 8 or so games from centre-back and he won more tackles than any player has a right to win. He was the rock upon which Sir Alex Ferguson built a dynasty and he will forever have the freedom of Old Trafford in my mind. Steve Bruce is a United legend.

So do my rose tinted spectacles make me see him as a success as a manager? First let the stats talk, he averaged 50 points a season with mediocre teams, how is that possible for a man who doesn't know the game?

Secondly he has consistently played good football; the Sunderland team are entertaining if not always a winning team. Isn't the idea of football to entertain? Isn't football a place where people enjoy the game, back their team and want it to play in an attacking style? Didn't he do that at Birmingham, Wigan and Sunderland?

Bruce is a football man. He knows the game, he is totally committed and frankly the idea that Sven, Capello, McClaren or Villas-Boas represent some higher intellect of managerial class is just tosh.

Remember that professional football players don't have PhD’s; they are just kids off the street who have some god given gift to run and keep their balance. Whatever motivates them to give their all is a mixture of money and a settled life, much of which the manager can't impact.

Bruce is a players manager, he knows effort reaps rewards, he knows that being committed can overcome skill shortfall. His teams always compete.

Sunderland can appoint O'Neill who will demand large transfer budgets to build new teams and they may or may not be a success. But to drop Bruce in favour of either of these managers is not any guarantee of success.

Under Bruce Sunderland wouldn’t have been relegated, that's for sure. Under the other two it’s far from certain.

So what I'd say is that if the fans want another manager to take over the team, and they pay the wages of the manager and players then good luck. But to ever describe Bruce as a failure is recipe for a fight in a pub at the very least because that is wrong, unfair and untrue.

Steve Bruce is a winner, he is Mr 100% and he has the medals to prove it. Sunderland in my opinion have made a mistake, which will cost them lots of money to discover that and they will win nothing while they learn.

Steve will find it hard to sit at home and watch this educational process but anyone with any vision will snap up this winner and give him the chance to continue to be the football man he is. It would be a shame not to see him return to management.

Steve Burrows CBE @ifollowsteve

Comments

[Al mackem]

Are you pissed or on drugs or Steve Bruce?

[bEN]

You clearly have on rose tinted glasses.

We have been beyond awful to watch this season, he's a nice man but football wise we have won 3 times this season at home....come on

[liam mcready]

This has got to be the dumbest piece i have ever been unfortunate enough to read,obviously written by somebody who hasn't witnessed the farcical substitutions,formations,no left sided players,no established strikers,people asked to play midfield,left wing,up front and defence all in the same game!
Away to man utd ,two up front,at home against wigan one up front,wake up do some research or don't bother,i hope he manages your club,muppet!

[McTrunk]

What a load of rubbish, I watch them week in week out and the man hasn't got a clue. Totally agree with Al Mackem, start taking some medication mate or leave the bottle alone you're suffering from delusions.

[Andrew]

Sorry but you are as ill-informed as Lord Ferg himself who talked total tosh on this subject. Bruce is a very nice man and he was a great player but what has that got to do with anything? His win percentage is the lowest of the last 5 Sunderland managers and he is tactically naive at best. Steve Bruce may have medals to prove it but they are from his playing days and they do not make him a good manager. O'Neill took Villa to 6th 3 years running and that will do for us.

[Phil]

Think someone has a man crush on Bruce. Fact is the two previous seasons Sunderland went on a long run which we were useless, only difference is this season we carried on our awful form from last season. He has a history of his teams going through awful slumps which suggests he doesn't know how to react and fix the problem. It's been the same in many games too, if his 'tactcs' aren't working he will wait until 70 minnutes to make some sort of either bizarre or pointless substitution, like bringing on defensive players when we're losing or bringing on players and playing them all out of position. I personally found it more annoying that his tactics and team selection were strange and confusing, than actually losing the games. His excuses he would come out with time and time again are infuriating, injuries, needing to gel etc, many other teams have had plenty injuries and get on with it, I also question if he knew wht he was doing when making the signings when we have so many central midfielders, one in which is Gardner who he paid 5 million for and keeps on the bench. We have no left winger ( as he claims Richardson is a left back and sessegnon clearly isnt a winger!). Iit all comes down to results, if he couldn't get those boys winning (his signings) then he should go.

[Bri]

Agree with the other comments. You are clueless in the extreme !

[Steve]

Yes you are wearing rose tinted specs! Great player - rubbish Manager. The Sunderland fans have been accused of having ridiculiously high expectations and being impatient.....two home wins in 2011 says it all. His 'tactics' beggar belief - he played 4-6-0 against the mighty Brighton for god's sake. Entertaining?? Dour, defensive, long-ball hit and hope football - that doesn't work. He even played with one up front against the league's bottom team. We were certainties for relegation had he stayed. Have you seen our record?! Football is a results business and he hasn't got the results for a long time. Nice guy, but had to go.

[ifos]

You ask the question about rose-tinted spectacles; let me remove them from you.
Bruce's medals are from playing, not managing, so let's discard them.
His win ratio at Sunderland was 28%, in any career that's failure.
He presided over the acquisition of 30 players in 2 and a half seasons and then he complained about player turnover and gelling a squad, whose fault was that? He signed 6 players on loan, made them all first team regulars and then expressed surprise at having to replace them at the end of the season.
In both his full seasons in charge Sunderland have had horrible winless runs post Christmas, something he also 'achieved' at Wigan and Birmingham, he cannot learn from his mistakes, and if repeated this season would mean relegation, something else he's 'achieved' before.
He singularly failed to keep hold of his best players - 1 or 2 can be excused, but when it's reaching 5 and 6, something's wrong.
He made Cattermole Captain and consequently meant we've had to change our team captain on a regular basis due to suspension or injury to his choice.
Over the majority of the past season we have been horrible to watch, I've seen every game, how many have you seen? Please don't stand in judgement over quality of football.
We've won at home TWICE in 11 months, if that was your team, what would you want?
The only mistakes have been to give him more and more money to spend, and not to sack him a month ago.
This article is one of the most one-sided, baseless pieces of writing I've ever come across.

[Seaham Towny]

Are you a certifiable idiot on crack or just asw you say got the rose tinted spectacles super glued on firstly isnt football to entertain yes but its also about winning just ask your taggart look a like manager about that wether hed like too see his side entertain but get beat, he is mister100% alright a 1000% no victories against our bitterest foes including a 5-1 defeat that we will never be allowed to forget Please just give everybody a break and keep your idiotic comments to people who would appreciate it like say on a scum website

[Bob McCready]

I can see you love Brucie, so when Fergie does retire, maybe shout his name from the Old Trafford rafters, campaign the owners, write to your MP, even canvass No10, and get the lad appointed. If, after a couple of years, he has built you a new team every transfer window, played one up front against the bottom side at home and had months without a win, you're still wearing your rose-coloured glasses then well done, my friend. Many legends on the pitch have not reached the same heights off it, so nice as the guy is, he just isn't up to managing above lower Premiership / top Championship teams.

[Marcus Black]

How do you get that Bruce would not have relegated us? He has won only 2 home games this year and only 2 in 13 this season - by anyone's standards that is relegation form (p31 W8 D7 L16 pts 31 - 1 point per game will relegate any club

He has come out and stated that he wasn't really one for tactics - this actually showed massively recently.
he signed players and then never played them (Gardner - 10 goals for Birmingham last season from Midfield has hardly played & Vaughan - massive for Blackpool last year the same)
OK so he was a legend as a player - no denying how good he was (and also that he was the best defender never to play for England) but that doesn't make him a good manager and that he certainly wasn't at Sunderland