New Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has seized the moment to take on the challenge of bringing success to the Wearsiders. "It doesn't frighten me," he said "I think it's the right time for me. I've done 10 years and in my early days it was very, very difficult when it wasn't quite what was written in the brochure and I struggled with that.

"But over the years I've been able to get a bit of experience and I think this is the right time for me to take on this challenge. I've done over 500 games now so it's the right time.

"I know how difficult it is, especially in the Premier League, and I do believe you become better with experience so that will stand me in good stead."

Bruce accepts that it will be a different experience to work in front of the packed stands of the Stadium of Light, but he does not plan to change his approach.

"You've got to manage people," he explained.

"You can have big stadiums and big support, but it's what goes over the white line for you and at Wigan, particularly before Christmas and we had to break the team up, we might not have had the biggest support or the biggest of stadiums or training grounds, but my God we had an unbelievably good team and that's what I want to create again."