Geordie boy Bruce hopes to win over Wearside fans

NEW manager Steve Bruce does not expect his Geordie roots to be held against him by Sunderland supporters.

The 48-year-old Newcastle native has been unveiled as the new manager of the Black Cats after a compensation package was finally agreed with former club Wigan. Bruce has made no secret of the fact he was a boyhood fan of Newcastle, Sunderland's neighbours and fiercest rivals, but he does not expect that to be a problem.

"I don't think so," he said. "I think they like one of their own from the north-east. It's results on the pitch that matter. I hope I can win over the few doubters I have. The vast majority of what I've seen is positive."

Bruce believes being from the north-east will give him an advantage. "I'm proud to sit here and be Sunderland manager," he said. "Unless you're born up here, you don't really realise what it means. It's a working-class area. It was born in me and bred in me that I only got there with hard work. I wasn't blessed with any huge ability. I got there with a bit of hard graft and a bit of determination and I want my team to mirror that. I'm going to give everyone a chance. I've got the chance to work with the players for a good few weeks before the transfer deadline.

"Whatever happened in the past, I'm not really interested in. To start with I want to give every single one of them a chance. We have some good players here and I want to have a good look."

Bruce will be joined on Wearside by coaches Eric Black, Nigel Spink and Keith Bertschin, who have agreed to follow him from Wigan. And he hopes together they can take Sunderland forward and replicate the success they had at their previous club. He said: "The aim is to take the progression forward. We don't want to be flirting with relegation. We want to be up where we were with Wigan."

Chairman Niall Quinn expects Bruce to add some backbone to a team which was threatened with the drop this season.

"There are times – and the players would admit this – when we've been brittle," he said. "We've made some giant strides and some backwards steps. I believe the thing that's been missing is steel. (Bruce] will forgive a player working hard if their passing goes astray, but what he won't forgive is not working. He was top of the list, we had some very good candidates, but I think Steve is the perfect fit."

Quinn added: "Steve will bring a professionalism and strength of character to this club that will really help to bring us forward to where we all want to be. He knows more than anyone what football means to people of this region and I'm confident he will be able to instil into our players exactly what it means to play for this football club."

Yesterday's announcement brings an end to days of speculation surrounding a move which has been viewed as a foregone conclusion ever since news of the Black Cats' interest first emerged. However, Sunderland have had to negotiate a series of hurdles to get their man, not least the issue of compensation with Wigan eventually accepting a figure slightly less than the £3million they paid Birmingham to land Bruce in November 2007.

They eventually opened face-to-face talks with the former Manchester United defender on Monday evening after he flew from a family holiday in Portugal to meet Quinn in Ireland. Those discussions, over personal terms and the shape of Bruce's coaching staff, finally came to a close on Wearside yesterday as Ricky Sbragia's successor was appointed.

With Irish-American businessman Ellis Short having taken over at Sunderland with the promise of serious investment,

there have been suggestions that he could hand Bruce a £60million war chest. He has also set the manager the challenge of securing a top-ten finish next season and in doing so, take the club to the next level.

Bruce has already been linked with a series of transfer targets, including Tottenham striker Darren Bent and Wigan trio Antonio Valencia, Paul Scharner and Titus Bramble.