Shake-ups in Sunderland's backroom and boardroom have added to the demands on Steve Bruce to produce results
Steve Bruce, Ellis Short and Niall Quinn played golf together last week but, despite this outward show of camaraderie, the trio have still to silence growing speculation about how much longer their triangular bond will endure. Sunderland's manager, owner and chairman have found their relationships coming under increasing scrutiny in the wake of not only Bruce's winless start to the season but the team's record of only one home victory ? against Wigan last spring ? since New Year's Day.
Although the manager feels sufficiently confident to laugh at fevered rumours speculation suggesting he is about to be sacked and Quinn has already, secretly, resigned as chairman, Bruce appreciates Short's patience is finite. Certainly anything less than victory against Stoke at the Stadium of Light will raise awkward questions about his position. Bruce was meant to imbue Sunderland withstability in the wake of Roy Keane's capricious managerial reign but after signing 30 players ? several of whom have now departed ? during little more than two years in charge it remains among the Premier League's most turbulent clubs.
If change has been most pronounced on the pitch, there have also been boardroom upheavals with the departure of Quinn's old allies Steve Walton and Lesley Callaghan, prefacing the recent arrival of two Short appointees, Per Magnus Andersson and Mike Farnan. They are now working with Margaret Byrne, the well regarded, newly promoted 31-year-old chief executive.
Byrne's diplomatic skills regularly came to the fore when, as club secretary, she mediated between Keane, Quinn and Short. Yet if the rather more easy going Bruce's installation has eased the tensions that once swirled around the river Wear things are still not exactly serene. When, three years ago, Quinn marched the intensely private Short on to an Irish golf course and persuaded him to buy out Sunderland's financially challenged owners the Drumaville consortium, he pledged that, with the right team and manager, the Stadium of Light would frequently be filled to 48,000 capacity.
Despite a deceptively flattering 10th place finish last season, a post-Christmas collapse in formensured that gates struggled to reach 40,000, reputedly disappointing Short. It has not helped that the team have lost four key strikers in the past year. While Bruce could hardly prevent Danny Welbeck's return to Manchester United following a successful loan, his failure to motivate Kenwyne Jones ? one of five former Sunderland players in Stoke's squad ? or to keep first Darren Bent and then Asamoah Gyan happy have been costly.
If Bent's defection to Aston Villa last January proved painful, the �13m Gyan's disappearance on loan to Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates last weekend is surely one of the most bizarre moves in football history. At least as Nicklas Bendtner, Connor Wickham and Ji Dong-won endeavour to fill the attacking vacuum they can be reassured that even an "old school", technophobe manager such as Bruce is finally embracing 21st century innovation.
As he struggles to bond with his new iPad, squad training is now individually calibrated through sophisticated heart monitors, while Steve Staunton has been hired to compile detailed scouting reports on opponents.
Following an investigation into the causes of Sunderland's frighteningly high instance of injuries and post-rehabilitation relapses last season, the respected former academy physiotherapist David Binningsley is now responsible for supervising recovering players throughout their entire return journey from surgery to the first team.
"We've made big changes," Bruce says. "But managers are judged by results and I know I need to win a match."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/sep/17/sunderland-steve-bruce-stoke
No comments:
Post a Comment