Unfortunately this isn't one of those competitions that you'd particularly want to win, especially if you happen to be a Premier League manager. The unfortunate winner of this years Premier League sack race is Steve Bruce, much to the delight of the bookies who have been taking obscene amounts of money on Steve Kean being the first to go.
For the majority of the season, the smart money has been on Steve Kean to be the first to go, but for once it does seem like the dreaded 'vote of confidence' from the owners is actually a vote of confidence for Steve (ps. sorry if that's the kiss of death and Steve Kean gets sacked imminently). What has also worked in Steve Kean's favour has been the willingness of his players to work hard and fight for him...fair enough they've also shown a worrying lack of footballing ability, but god loves a trier.
Anyway, back to Steve Bruce, I do feel a little sorry for him. Bruce led his Sunderland team to their best season since 2002 and their second highest ever finish in the Premier League, despite losing talismanic striker Darren Bent in January. Then during the summer transfer window he lost Jordan Henderson to Liverpool and Asamoah Gyan to greed and struggled to bring in any recognised attacking quality (no, Niklas Bendtner is not qualtiy). The additions of Kieran Westwood on a free transfer from Coventry and Connor Wickham for £8m from Ipswich were both shrewd bits of business, fighting off alleged interest from Celtic and Arsenal respectively to land the pair. Obviously a record in the league this season of 11 points from 13 games, 2 wins, 5 draws and 6 losses isn't brilliant, but only the two Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Newcastle have conceded less goals this term. Quite frankly, its amazing that it has taken until the last day of November for someone to get the sack, but I think it may have been a little premature.
Lets look at this pragmatically for a minute. The nature of the league is that three unfortunate clubs are going to get relegated (despite the foreign owners of Premier League teams wanting to abolish this, either that is the most ridiculous idea every, or proof that the British public will indeed believe anything that appears on the BBC website!), obviously no-one wants it to be one of those teams, the number crunchers see the financial aspect of relegation, and the fans point to the lack of quality they'll be seeing on a weekly basis...but does it matter. How many Boro fans stopped turning up when the team stopped playing well? How many Leeds fans turned up when they were relegated to League 1? The same question for Forest fans. Compare this to Southampton, who got relegated, deducted 10 points and still all but pulled a full house in League 1. Charlton are another example of the big club falling from grace, but still the fans turn up in their droves. At the end of the day real fans will support their team no matter what league they are in, provided it gives value for money. You can't charge Premier League prices for lower league football, I personally resent paying £25 to get into a League 1 game, but I still pay my money as many times as I can in a season to support my team. If a manager loses the dressing room, that is a problem, if the manager loses games, that can be changed, instead of getting rid of him, why don't the owners and the board give them a chance? If you get relegated, chances are you'll be best placed to bounce back up next season...and if you don't believe your team can beat anyone in the world, you may not be quite the fan you think you are.
The bookies (as usual) have already installed Martin O'Neil as the favourite to take over the job, although I'm sure the words Alan and Curbishley will soon find their way into the fray, but who else is out there? A mate of mine did have a great celebrity spot in a lift today having been stood next to Sven, who is available at the moment, although I doubt the Sunderland pockets are deep enough for his wages...so who else, dare I suggest Steve McClaren for fear of getting horrifically abused by Sunderland fans? How about Paul Ince or Mark Hughes...maybe Rafa Benitez (its a fact). We'll have to wait and see.
So, who next for the sack? AVB? Steve Kean? Mick McCarthy is fairly heavily tipped by the bookies, but then again they've got Harry Redknapp at 16/1 to be sacked next...I'm fairly sure it would take something huge and bung shaped for that to happen.
A final word then, here's to hoping that Steve Bruce finds a new job soon, partly because he seems like a nice guy...but mostly so we can get this back...STEEEEEEEVVVEE BRUCE, HE'S GOT A BIG FAT HEAD, HE'S GOT A BIG FAT HEAD, HE'S GOT A BIG FAT HEAD...
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