To Steve Bruce: the manager nobody wanted, the manager everybody needed. For Sunderland AFC, Bruce represented the constant that maintained club survival and longevity in the Premier League; where the players brought in to represent him were the variables – ever-interchanging and inconsistent.
Of these incoming variables, it was the prized champion who represented Steve Bruce’s Sunderland the most: Darren Bent – as much the manager before goal as Steve Bruce was on the touchline. Certainly the former Tottenham man was twice the household name on Wearside as the club itself and with good reason: 36 goals, 63 games. Indeed the rapid incline of Bent’s popularity and league status was a blessing, albeit in disguise. Bent’s presence and activity as a lone striker masked Steve Bruce’s campaign strategy from June 2009 to January 2011; because while Sunderland’s no.11 had blunderbuss firepower, the remaining ten players stressed inconsistency through no fault of their own.
Bruce’s first-term skipper Lorik Cana is one proven Albanian despite his aggression and he led a team with an equal mindset: Bent will score. It was certainly a grafting squad capable of squeezing out victories from the most unlikeable of fixtures, through extraordinary means on occasion. Yet every ‘magical’ moment of Steve Bruce’s inaugural term involved that man Bent again and again. So it was inevitable that the cracks would show the moment his goal storm began to calm.
But it didn’t. And maybe Steve Bruce wishes it had. After 24 goals in 36 games, Darren Bent finished the 2nd highest English goal-scorer of the season for the 13th position Sunderland. Hot property, no doubt, made all the worse by rumours of a Summer departure to foreign clubs. It became, if anything, apparent that a sale of Darren Bent would allow the club to pocket a lot more than the £10m paid for his services, but could the club afford to lose him? The answer was yes. Could Steve Bruce afford to lose him? That was a different story.
It’s plausible to assume that Bruce’s next champion signing of Asamoah Gyan was his response to Fabio Capello’s discerning decision to omit Darren Bent from England’s 2010 World Cup campaign. When England unceremoniously crashed out of the competition without a striker’s goal to their tally, Bent’s inclusion suddenly became inevitable. As an impending international Bent’s worth soared and Gyan – having made an impression during his World Cup campaign for Ghana – was the £13m striker Bruce believed he needed to continue the goal spree when Bent’s ended.
Despite his lacklustre consistency Gyan provided dazzling flare to Sunderland’s strike force alongside Bent and on-loan Danny Welbeck yet his inclusion sounded an underlining concern. While striker Kenwyne Jones was not only a fan-favourite but a reliable attacker, his sudden £8m sale was never justified. Whether Jones’ sale was relative to Bruce’s task of remedying the unbalanced wage bills is open to speculation; however the Trinidad forward was the proven and committed striker where £13m Gyan was not.
In the short term, Bruce’s operation proved a success; after 9 goals between August and October 2010, Bent entered an extended goal-drought and it was Asamoah Gyan who carried the responsibility. However the striker dilemma for Steve Bruce was becoming apparent; as Gyan entered a creative flurry of match-winning goals, Darren Bent was slowly fading with every goal-less fixture. Not that the Sunderland faithful cared. In their eyes, Bent had already moulded his status as a Wearside hero. But not for long.
The speculation of what occurred next can be debated for seasons to come. Bent had began a goal-scoring string of international games but could not replicate his form for Sunderland anymore. Everybody knew something was wrong but nobody could have imagined that in the hours following a 1-1 derby result their golden boy would request a transfer request. The greatest concern was in the specifics: Bent hadn’t requested just a transfer – he had a club ready to take him. Even with Steve Bruce’s questionable man-management skills, he could not have prevented the wave of deceit and greed that surrounded the controversy of Darren Bent’s transfer to Aston Villa.
Within days it was over; Bent was gone and Bruce had to rely on what he had left. The veil of Darren Bent no longer cloaked the tactics Bruce was playing and, from this, results declined in a freefall. And as poor results continued, Steve Bruce became casualty to his greatest foe during his Sunderland tenure when both Welbeck and Gyan succumbed to extended injuries. At the season’s exodus Bruce relied on ultra-talented Sességnon to see out a campaign Bruce couldn’t wait to see conclude.
It is crass of pundits to attribute Sunderland’s 10th position finish as a reflection of other teams losing fixtures. However with a large percentage of points collected before Bent’s departure and subsequent January slump down the league table, Steve Bruce’s biggest dilemma was clear to even the most jaded supporter. Certainly without Darren Bent, this was Steve Bruce’s Sunderland. And if there was any doubt that it wasn’t, it sure was after Summer 2011.
Sebastian Larsson. Craig Gardner. John O’Shea. Wes Brown. Kieran Westwood. Ahmed Elmohammedy. Ji Dong Won. Connor Wickham. James McClean. David Vaughan.
Bruce’s 2011 campaign included a personal starting XI of summer signings; seasoned veterans, potential superstars, proven internationals and anonymous greenhorns. A liar would claim they believed this was a squad destined to fail as Sunderland prepared for a campaign amidst heavy talk that this was their season of real achievement. Bruce had balanced the books at last and finally claimed the squad he wanted. In the opening fixture against Liverpool there were positive signs of a strong Sunderland squad.
The beginning of the end then followed with Steve Bruce’s recurring nightmare: the Tyne-Wear Derby.
Echoes of the 5-1 pummelling at St. James’ Park the previous season left a tainted scar across Bruce’s successful previous campaign. Supporters wrongfully called for his head following that fixture which was, if nothing else, a small blemish against a solid start for Bruce’s squad. That was then. This was now: the first home game of the season against the fiercest rival Newcastle United; a weakened Newcastle United, one dead set for a relegation battle. And yet, before a sold out Stadium of Light, Sunderland stumbled.
For Bruce: when you fall, you fall hard. It was all more smoke and mirrors disguising the obvious flaw that his management was not working, and it never had. Within weeks the indifference of Asamoah Gyan led to his loan spell at Al Ain. Suddenly Bruce had no goal-scorer and he was found incapable of structuring a squad to remedy this woe. Supporters quickly observed the squad’s flaws more than Bruce himself; while the manager was looked down upon by the Sunderland faithful as one who couldn’t retain his star players. With every winless fixture, not only did Bruce’s reliability fall, but his credibility as a tactical manager collapsed.
It was only for Bruce’s resilient 10th place finish in his 2nd term that the club and its supporters held onto a lasting belief in him. Eventually however, the net snapped beneath Steve Bruce as Wigan fluked a victory against his team – at home – to a sudden hailstorm of berating. Regardless of Wigan’s credibility victory against Martinez’ squad was assured by everybody in the stadium that night. For it to collapse within a tumultuous sequence of sheer defensive f**k-ups was enough for everyone. Especially Chairman Ellis Short.
The national rumours of Steve Bruce’s imminent departure were irrelevant against the inevitable feeling on Wearside. It was a line in the sand for the club that Bruce would not see another game as manager. How cruel his departure was may not have been as sudden as reports would have people believe, however. In retrospect Steve Bruce provided the perfect assistance to Sunderland AFC in the only way he could at the ideal time.
Bruce’s legacy as a manager documents his ability to achieve with low funds and, for a club in dire need of financial stability, he provided that service to Sunderland in ways few managers could. A cut-price purchase for Darren Bent ended with his sale for double the price. He nurtured raw, young talent in Jordan Henderson within 2 seasons and sold him for £20m. That, in itself, is a successful risk for a manager. Most importantly, Steve Bruce returned Sunderland’s investors to an assured state that the club was profitable and financially stable. The selfish loan of Asamoah Gyan proves that Steve Bruce’s priority was to maintain a structured finance scheme rather than giving in to wage demands and for that he should be appreciated.
With Bruce stepping aside, Ellis Short can now appoint the manager capable of taking Sunderland to a level their predecessor couldn’t. Bruce’s purpose at Sunderland has been fulfilled and he can, in hindsight, be proud of his accomplishments. Now, with Martin O’Neill at the helm, fan expectation will no doubt call for a top 10 finish, not only for O’Neill’s promise as a manager, but for the expectations Bruce raised in his final finish. That, alone, shows the progress Steve Bruce made.
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