Is this a make or break season for Steve Bruce?

Once again Steve Bruce has been heavily backed in the transfer market. Recent signings include Conor Wickham, Wes Brown and John O'shea with Darren Gibson expected to follow.

After a promising start to last seasons campaign the Black Cats fell off in the second half of the season culminating in a 10th place finish. It's pretty apparent that the board and Ellis Short in particular aspire to at least make Sunderland competitive enough to fight for a Europa League spot.

However my belief is that the current squad will do well to better last seasons achievements and I don't think the above names will make that much of an impression in terms of major improvement.

Which leads me to the question.. Is this a make or break season for Steve Bruce?

I believe it is and I do wonder if Bruce has it about him to turn himself into a top tier manager and not just become another one of 'Fergies old boys'

Be interesting to see what you guys think.

Cheers guys.

I think Steve Bruce IS a good manager, he has been fairly successful with Birmingham, Wigan and Sunderland. You have to remember that when Bruce took over, he had a pretty poor squad who had scraped themselves away from relegation the year before, he then took them to 13th and now 10th so he has had an upward curve so far.

He has been heavily backed in the transfer market and I think that's at least news that the board believes in Bruce, but maybe a sign that he has to do something this year better than other years.

I think it may be unrealistic to expect Sunderland to challenge for a Europa League place, with Tottenham, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Everton, possibly Arsenal, and others all fighting over those places, it'd be a little harsh for the board to say sack Bruce because he doesn't qualify them for the Europa League.

I think Sunderland struggled after the sale of Darren Bent, understandably so, and although he has made a lot of signings, I'm not sure they'll be enough to replace what Bent brought to the table, although rather than buying another top goalscorer, Bruce may be aiming to improve all other areas of the team, so the whole team scores more as a result.

In the end, I'm not sure if this season should be seen as Bruce's make or break season, he's had a good upward curve, and the team still seems to be improving, albeit the loss of Bent, which couldn't be helped.

I think as it stands Sunderland are on a par with Everton and Villa spending wise so there is no reason why they can't finish above those two but whether they can or will under Bruce is another matter.

I think his biggest problem is working under Short who once reportedly told Roy Keane 'I don't like losers' so whether the guy pulling the purse strings thinks a mid table finish is 'winning' is an interesting argument in itself.

Im a bit undicided on this , i think Bruce is a good manager who was unlucky with injuries to key players last season which imo cost Sunderland a few places in the league table .
His transfer record is pretty good with regard to value for money spent and sell on prices . Hes been backed again and has brought in some good players , giving him a better squad depth and quality .
But this is were im not sure whether its a make or break season because of the continued investment by the owner .
Its virtualy a new team being bought so will take time to gel so Bruce should be given time to do this , but results are everything so if Sunderland dont get off to a good start i can see him paying the price and being sacked rightly or wrongly like was said in another post it depends on what expectations the owner has .