Niall Quinn has offered his unequivocal backing to Steve Bruce, insisting that Sunderland would keep faith in their manager even if the team dont win another game between now and the end of the season.

While Quinn, the chairman, is confident that Sunderland will retain their status in the Barclays Premier League and can go on to establish themselves as a top-ten club, relegation would not only see Bruce remain in his role but result in a 40 per cent salary cut for every player at the Stadium of Light.

Bruces position became a source a debate amongst supporters during Sunderlands recent sequence of 14 league matches without victory, a run which ended with their 4-0 victory at home to Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night. They are thirteenth in the table, six points clear of the bottom three.

I can assure you now that even if we dont win another game between now and the end of the season, Steve Bruce will be manager here next year, Quinn said on Thursday night. If we go down, hell still be the manager.

Since Bruce signed a three-contract last summer, Sunderland have broken their transfer record with the 10 million signing of Darren Bent and have beaten Liverpool and Arsenal, but they have also suffered from a rash of injuries, low confidence and a poor away record.

Yet Quinn understands the importance of embracing stability and his views are shared by Ellis Short, Sunderlands owner, who visited Wearside and spoke to Bruce and his squad this week.

Ellis lets us run the business and hes not affected by message boards or by media speculation, Quinn said. He trusts us as a group – and I include Steve in that group – that weve made the right decisions and that our policies are going the right way. Thankfully, hes a realist and understands that this game can be tough.

Aston Villa is a good example to follow. I can remember them having to win a couple of games late on in the season when I arrived back at Sunderland. They had tough times, but they also spent a lot of money because they believed in what Martin ONeill was doing and how he went about things.

Steve shares the same passion that the fans have, the owner has, that we all have. The way he carries himself and projects our club is everything we wanted. The pressure in the Premier League is incredible and there have been some tough knock-backs, but we think hes the right man to get this club where we all want it.

Should the worst happen, however, Sunderland have taken steps to protect themselves. Anybody who comes to this club has to agree to a 40 per cent deduction in the event of us getting relegated and its the same for senior staff and players already here who sign a new contract, Quinn said. People might think of it as Armageddon, but we would be safe financially.

Posted on March 12th, 2010 by admin
Filed under: Soccer news