Black Cats won't panic, says Steve Bruce

Jan 18 2010 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

With goalscorer Boudewijn Zenden yet to start for the club for fitness reasons, the only other players on the bench were strikers – hardly what was needed in such a one-sided game – and inexperienced youngsters.

Little surprise, then, Bruce felt his hands had been tied.

“There’s not really much I could have done in terms of what we had available,” he commented.

“There were too many defenders not playing.

“People think centre-half is an easy position, it isn’t, it’s a crucial one. Without our big one (Turner) we found it a real struggle.”

Fans are split on the merits of selling Jones, who has attracted interested from Birmingham and Stoke.

But chairman Niall Quinn does not want to see the Trinidadian – or anyone else – leave this month. “Kenwyne knows exactly what I think about him, I like him as a footballer,” said the former striker.

“He probably has five or six things in his locker I never had.

“If things start to work out for him in the second half of the season, he can be a very important player for this football club.

“Behind the scenes, agents might be trying to set up things for other clubs, we can’t do anything about that. But we don’t want to get rid of anybody this month.

“If there’s someone to sign in the other direction, we will do everything we can to help Steve.”