LAST night will be recorded as the date when Steve Bruce was sacked by Sunderland, but January 17 of this year when Darren Bent handed in his transfer request could be seen as the day when his reign at the Stadium of Light began to crumble.
Bruce was relieved of his command as manager of the first team following not only a poor start to the current campaign, but also the dire way in which the previous one had finished given the good position Sunderland had worked themselves into following a 1-0 win at Aston Villa on January 4.
Back then, the Black Cats had responded brilliantly to a humiliating 5-1 thumping by Newcastle to go on a run which left them on the cusp of challenging for a place in the Europa League.
However, a fortnight later the foundations of such a dream began to crumble when Bent strode into Bruce’s office and said he wanted out.
This was a blow. Some managers would have insisted that the striker stay until at least the summer, when a suitable replacement could be sought.
However, Bent duly upped and left – and it was to cost both Sunderland and Bruce dearly.
New signing Asamoah Gyan was struggling to settle in and would eventually do what Bent did months later – albeit on a loan move.
Fellow striker Fraizer Campbell was out with a long-term injury while the on-loan Danny Welbeck’s hamstrings were snapping once too often, leaving Bruce’s striking options for the second half of the season very limited indeed.
Goals were hard to come by and results began to drop. Meanwhile, Bent had hit the ground running at his new club Aston Villa and would end the campaign with nine goals in 16 games, becoming their joint-top scorer with Ashley Young, despite only being there for half a season.
Sunderland would finish 10th – a high finish given their recent history, but the general feeling was it should have been higher. It could have been had Bent been forced to hang on until May before pushing off. Even so, Bruce had been backed with a decent transfer budget in the summer to address issues such as his striking options but also to strengthen all other aspects of his squad as well.
After all, prior to Bent’s departure, Bruce had done a good job in building Sunderland up from where he found them to within touching distance of a European place halfway through last season.
He arrived back in the summer of 2009 with Sunderland having avoided the drop into the Championship under Ricky Sbragia’s caretaker command following Roy Keane’s departure. Despite a spell in which they didn’t win for 14 games, Bruce’s achievement in guiding the club to a 13th-place finish was seen as progress from the previous year.
