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With every passing week, Steve Bruce's managerial reputation reels from yet another hefty blow as his replacement coaxes explosive performances and startling results out of the players Bruce brought to Sunderland. Soon enough his managerial reputation will look as battered as his conk.
Barring Fraizer Campbell - injured for the entirety of Bruce's disastrous 2011 - the same players who earned Sunderland 11 points from 13 games have now notched up 19 points from nine games. Only Manchester United have produced better form over the same period. While other clubs have talked of transitional periods, Sunderland have undergone a swift and practically bloodless revolution.
The players have to take some of the blame for their slow start but it's difficult not to apportion the lion's share to a manager who failed to eke the maximum potential out of a squad that always looked top-half material on paper. Unfortunately, football is played on a pitch, and Bruce's squad looked like relegation fodder on the green stuff.
There's nothing revolutionary about the way Martin O'Neill has shaped this Sunderland side, though credit is due for promoting James McLean from left field to left wing. The message appears to be simple - work hard, close down, be first to every ball, break quickly and deliver quality from the flanks. It's not rocket science and yet it was somehow beyond Bruce's Sunderland.
Now O'Neill's Sunderland are in eighth, which is the least Ellis Short should have expected for his generosity in allowing Bruce far more significant funds than those handed to Alan Pardew at Newcastle or indeed any other club outside the top six. The only consolation to the jobless Bruce should be that the players he acquired are busy proving his acumen in the transfer market. If only the same could be said for the rest of his managerial skills.
There is now no reason why an ebullient Sunderland side should not hold eighth as the very least of their ambitions. They are truly the 'best of the rest' and the challenge now should be getting as close as possible to those clubs above them. The challenge for Bruce will be convincing another Premier League club that the encumbent Sunderland manager is merely reaping the rewards of all his good work. That's some challenge.
Sarah Winterburn
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