Bruce named Sunderland manager

Sunderland have confirmed that Steve Bruce has been appointed as the club's new manager.


The 48-year old has signed a three-year contract with the Black Cats, until 2012.

Bruce has established a reputation for producing well organised teams and for unearthing and nurturing terrific talent, something he has done exceptionally well at Wigan Athletic. In the season just ended he steered the Latics to a highly creditable 11th place finish.

A brief earlier spell at Wigan in 2001 separated stints as manager of Huddersfield Town and Crystal Palace before a six-year tenure with Birmingham City.

After completing the deal to bring Bruce to Sunderland, Chairman Niall Quinn expressed his delight: "Steve will bring a professionalism and strength of character to this club that will really help to bring us forward to where we all want to be.

"He knows more than anyone what football means to people of this region and I'm confident that he will be able to instill into our players exactly what it means to play for this football club."
HUGE CLUB
Steve Bruce added: "I am genuinely excited by this fantastic opportunity. This is a huge club with great tradition and great supporters and it's up to me now to produce a team that can match that."

Born in Corbridge in Northumberland, Bruce has 11 years experience as a manager since becoming player/manager with Sheffield United in 1998. He has since taken charge of seven Barclays Premier League campaigns, five with Birmingham City and two with Wigan with whom he began a second spell in November 2007.

Having taken over at St. Andrews in December 2001, he guided the Blues to promotion in his first full season and kept them in the top flight for four years. In 2007 Bruce again led Birmingham into the top flight, his side only losing out on the Championship title to Sunderland on the last day of the season.

COMPREHENSIVE KNOWLEDGE
Bruce will be joined by coaching staff Eric Black, Nigel Spink and ex-Sunderland striker Keith Bertschin.

Black is a former Motherwell and Coventry City manager who had a spell as caretaker boss at Birmingham as well as being assistant manager at Celtic. He has been described by Steve Bruce as, "a truly outstanding tactical coach with a comprehensive knowledge of world football."

Goalkeeping coach Spink played over 450 times for Aston Villa, famously winning the European Cup on only his second appearance. Spink spent six years coaching at Birmingham before re-joining Bruce at Wigan in January 2008.

Bertschin scored 10 goals in 30 starts (plus 13 as sub) at Sunderland from 1987-88. He joined Birmingham as reserve team coach in November 2007, a position he has since held at Wigan.