Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn says new manager Steve Bruce will be supported in the summer market.

Quinn is convinced Sunderland can compete with the big teams and, as he demonstrated with Kenwyne Jones's £60,000-a-week contract in January, he can match modern-day wage demands.

He said: "Steve will be backed. We are in a place that we have never been before. I would not be comfortable spending £70m on one player but that is another club's business.

"We have to be smart when it comes to spending money and that is what Ellis will expect, but he will back us. Steve's experience counts a lot. He has taken many rough diamonds and polished them beautifully, and we hope he can do that here. He has already been told we trust him and because of his astute record in the market so far it won't be a case of here is a lump of money. Success breeds success."