Will Steve Bruce Manage 100 Games For Sunderland ?

As we enter another vacant weekend in the Premier League it is a convenient excuse to reflect on Steve Bruce's managerial career so far and consider his record in the context of recent SAFC managers . Bruce took over at the Stadium Of Light following the 2008/09 season when Ricky Sbragia eventually kept the club in the Premier League with thirty six points despite taking only one point from the last five matches .
Famously Newcastle and Middlesborough were relegated that season but Sunderland had to rely on Newcastle not winning on the final day of the season to stay in the Premier League.

Bruce may be best remembered for buying Darren Bent from Spurs in August 2009. Remarkably Bent scored twenty four Premier League goals for Sunderland in his and Steve Bruce's first season and this enabled the Black Cats to finish a respectable thirteenth in the 2009/10 season with 44 points.


Further apparent improvement was to come last season with the Black Cats finishing tenth with forty seven points after beating already relegated West Ham easily on the final day of the season . However Bruce was lucky to hold on to his job in the latter part of the season as Sunderland went on an astonishing fourteen games from January 1st to April 23rd 2011 without a victory . The high profile signing of Asamoah Gyan at the start of the 2010/11 season turned out to be a failure and Bruce agreed to sell top scorer Darren Bent to Aston Villa in January 2011 for a transfer fee of up to £24M .

The 2011/12 season started poorly for Sunderland and Steve Bruce as Newcastle outplayed the home side at the Stadium Of Light in only the second game of the season to record a 1-0 victory that had some fans shouting for Bruce to go.

In all competitive games Steve Bruce has a 30.2% win record at Sunderland. Considering the amount of money Bruce has had made available to him by Chairman Ellis Short it is disappointing to say the least that Bruce has failed to improve or at least match the 33.8% win record he enjoyed in 68 games in charge at Wigan culminating in an eleventh place Premier League finish in the 2008/09 season.

Steve Bruce has now been in charge for 96 games at Sunderland and there have only been five managers since Bob Stokoe's famous reign in the seventies that have managed to clock up a century of games as manager of the Club. All of those managers other than Alan Durban,  had spells in charge when SAFC were not in the top league.

Crowds at Roker Park plummeted whilst Durban was manager, whilst Denis Smith, Peter Reid, Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane all enjoyed success initially to varying degrees before going on to struggle in future seasons.

Bruce has so far kept Sunderland in the Premier League but the style of football has never really been to the fan's liking. Bruce may well get to the 100 games in charge landmark but may not get much further .