Steve Bruce will help England to recover from World Cup

Jul 12 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

STEVE Bruce will happily do his bit to get England’s national team back on track as he promised to give Sunderland’s home-grown players a chance to prove they can cut it in the Premier League.

Sunderland’s Academy set-up has been one of the most productive in the country with Jordan Henderson, Martyn Waghorn, Jack Colback and Ryan Noble all playing for the first team in the last two seasons.

That is set to continue next season as Bruce (left) claimed English football is in danger of heading into long-term decline because of the lack of young talent coming through the ranks at Premier League clubs. “I hope Sunderland are doing our bit to produce our own players, but the problems are wider than that,” said Bruce, who has also been a long-standing critic of the number of foreign managers in the Premier League.

“It’s society. Fifteen years ago there were games on every single park and we used to get a football for our birthday and play all day long. Now the kids get a computer game or an iPhone or whatever.

“There aren’t as many kids playing football now. Look at the Scots, they are nowhere now and they always used to

produce players. We’re not producing players like we used to produce.

“We’re fortunate at Sunderland. We’ve had a group here who have come through and I’ve always said as a manager that is important to bring your own players through.

“The young lads here, they know they will get an opportunity with me here as we saw last season. Young lads from the local area, they give the team an energy and a passion.