Black Cats cull survivor Bardsley vows to take his chance

Sep 4 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

“I am sad to see Danny go. He’s a tremendous lad and he’s been a great servant to the football club. I don’t really know whether it was Danny’s choice to make a fresh start or whether it was a club decision – I’m not too sure.

“He’s been tremendous for us and I’m sure that he will be missed, but we’ve got some excellent players in to replace him, so that is obviously in the manager’s mind.”

With Bruce’s squad finalised – barring a move for free agent Lucas Neill – the Sunderland boss may have to move to soothe the bruised egos of players that he was prepared to sell at the right price.

Bardsley believes that former Wigan boss Bruce’s man-management skills will enable him to keep his growing squad happy as the season takes shape.

“He’s a brilliant man manager. He’s been a player himself at a top club – as captain – and he knows what it takes.

“You can tell in the way he is as a manager that he was a top-class player. It’s brilliant for the lads because we learn from him – he’s a manager who will improve players, that’s a cert.

“It is an exciting time, we’re all going in the right direction.

“We’re only going to improve playing with better players. Everyone is looking forward to being part of it, there are big ambitions here.”

Those ambitions were dented slightly by the disappointing 1-0 defeat at Stoke last weekend but Sunderland will have the chance to make amends when they embark on a run of games that looks eminently winnable.

“You hope that these are winnable games. But those are the ones that define your season,” said Bardsley.

“We were disappointed with Stoke. As a team we weren’t at the races but I said before that you have those kind of days and it’s up to us to react to them.

“If we can bounce back well against Hull, then it will be forgotten.”