Steve Bruce: I won't let pressure get to me

Steve Bruce has vowed to take any flack thrown his way for Sunderland’s poor run joked: “I’ve got a skin like a rhinoceros and a head like one too, some people say!“

With former club Wigan visiting today, and barbed comments from former chairman Dave Whelan and boss Roberto Martinez still fresh, Bruce knows he’s facing pressure to end his winless run that stretches back 10 league games.

Bruce has revealed he speaks regularly to tycoon owner Ellis Short, who is always “supportive“, hates to lose, and says form must turn around or “we all know what the consequences might be.”

Bruce has dispatched 23 players, bought eight on permanent deals and another three on loan during seven months of upheaval and rebuilding at the Stadium of Light which has “gone pear-shaped“ in the past few weeks, including the defence being “all over the place at times.”

Boos and jeers echoes around a dissatisfied ground after the grim goalless draw against Stoke on Monday, when they showed resilience but a lack of creativity.

Bruce said: “I’ll have to take all that crap, but let me tell you, I’ve got a skin like a rhinoceros. It doesn’t worry me. If you’re going to do this job, you’re going to get some stick. I won’t shy away from it.

“In management in particular you always have these bad spells and I do believe you learn from it and you do become better at the job when you do experience it and come through it.

“I’m still the same manager who got the club off to the best start in 30 years. For whatever reason in the last eight weeks it has gone a bit pear-shaped.

“I can understand the fans’ frustration. We lost them. We lost the momentum of the team. We lost the big players. We lost Cattermole, for example, Craig Gordon, Michael Turner has missed seven out of the last ten - I can go on and on.

“From being a bottom five team two years on the trot all of a sudden we were going for Europe. I tried to say: “Woah, hold on a minute“ but that’s what it is. That’s why I’m here.

“We all have to remember that we’re only two years out of the Championship. The club has been in the bottom five and just survived twice. I knew the challenge. I wanted to come to the North East and have a crack at it. I’ve not regretted it one minute. It’s a horrific run - we all know that. I’m confident that, given time, we’ll be okay.”

The thoughts of owner Ellis Short are unknown, but he has spoken to Bruce this week. He said: “I’m sure he won’t be enjoying watching his team not win in ten games. Niall is the link man, but I do speak to the owner. I spoke to the owner on Wednesday, and I have to say he was very supportive.

“He wants the club to do well. He might not be right at the forefront, but he’s as committed as anyone. He’s been a successful businessman all his life so he wants his things to do well, and his track record proves that, usually, they do.

“He’s put in a vast amount of money - no, a huge amount of money - which hopefully will get us to where we want to be.

“He’s a nice man. He’s okay, and I respect him because we don’t see or hear very much from him. He let’s other people get on with their job and manage their own job as they see fit. He let’s me manage the team. Of course I’ll have conversations with him to see what his plans are and that’s normal. That’s how our relationship works and that’s the way I like it.”

Bruce has been working on building a solid defence in training and now wants his big players to step up and lead. He added: “Defensively, we’ve been all over the place at times. I still have that Chelsea game etched in my mind - every time Chelsea got the ball, I thought they were going to score.

“The confidence is a bit fragile at the moment. The big players coming back also take a bit of time. Our big players didn’t keep hold of the ball and create as much on Monday. On the day, you need your big players, and your forward players in particular, to keep the ball.

“It has the mentality and the expectation of a huge club. Some players wilt under that. Now is the time to step forward when the pressure is on.”.