Sunderland are riding on the crest of a wave as Steve Bruce has led them to seventh in the Premier League table.
A victory over
Liverpool and a draw at
Manchester United has made the nation sit up and take notice and Bruce is finally getting the recognition he deserved.
Two promotions at
Birmingham and a top ten top flight finish for the first time in 30 years proved his potential and he subsequently secured
Wigan’s top flight status.
However, he is looking to take
Sunderland one step further and they are looking like real candidates for a crack at Europe next season. But, as Bruce prepares to visit Birmingham City this weekend, he insists he is keeping his players feet firmly on the ground.
Q: This season is running like clockwork at present, isn't it?
A: I’ll use
Hull as an example. This time last year they were third or fourth and beating
Arsenal and
Tottenham. I do believe that where we are is not a fluke and I believe we have made progress but that is all we have done at the moment.
We’ve produced two wonderful performances in recent weeks against Manchester United and Liverpool but speak to me again in six months and I’ll tell you what kind of progress has been made. I’m purring inside and things are going along nicely but I will never get carried away. Football has a habit of coming back to kick you.
Q: How pleased were you with Bolo Zenden's debut last week?
A: My big issue was is he physically fit enough? If it was going to take six, eight weeks to get him into some sort of physical condition, it might have been a different scenario. But he has kept himself in remarkable nick.
He is very, very fit and he has done very well. He is technically very, very good - you don't play for Barcelona and Liverpool and Marseille and
Chelsea and all of those teams if you haven't got really good ability.
That was never in question. He will give us that little bit of experience and also around the dressing room with the younger lads too; he is everything I hoped he would be. That bit of experience, that bit of know-how is very welcome. He is an intelligent boy.
Q: Why is it working so well at Sunderland?
A: A football club is only as good as the strength at the top. If there’s no strength at the top, then that filters down through the manager – if he hasn’t got any say, he loses his power. And once that becomes evident to everyone else, that you’re not completely in charge, it filters through to the players themselves.
You look at Birmingham and the takeover has taken the better part of two years to sort out, so you can imagine the sort of unease that has been there. I found Dave Whelan (Wigan chairman) and Niall Quinn breaths of fresh air, both of them.
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