Steve Bruce today moved a significant step closer to taking charge at Sunderland when he spent several hours in talks about personal terms and transfer budgets with Niall Quinn.
Sunderland's chairman received the go-ahead to speak to Bruce late on Sunday night when Dave Whelan, the Wigan Athletic owner, finally accepted the Wearside club's offer of compensation for his manager. It is understood the sum is considerably less than the £3m Whelan – who initially demanded £5m – had asked for as recently as Sunday morning.
Bruce broke off from a holiday in Portugal and flew to Ireland where he met Quinn and other board members. With talks understood to be progressing smoothly, confirmation of his appointment is expected within the next 24 hours.
It is understood Bruce will earn more than the £2.25m a year he commanded at the JJB Stadium and will be given a generous transfer budget. The boyhood Newcastle fan, who went on to play centre-half for Manchester United, could have as much as £60m to spend on players this summer as Sunderland's new billionaire owner, Ellis Short, determines to transform them into a top-10 Premier League club.
"I think Steve always wanted to return to the north-east," said Whelan. The only surprise is that the 48-year-old former Huddersfield, Crystal Palace and Birmingham manager is ending up on Wearside rather than Tyneside. Bruce, who has admitted regretting turning down the Newcastle job in 2004, is well known for emphasising his black-and-white affiliations at every opportunity. Moreover, before Alan Shearer's short-term appointment at St James' Park in April it was thought Wigan's manager was being lined up to succeed Joe Kinnear at Newcastle this summer.
Yet although Bruce has received abuse from Sunderland fans when visiting the Stadium of Light with Wigan it has generally been of a humour-tinged nature, and Quinn has no qualms about the capacity of supporters to forgive the new manager for his ties. He believes Sunderland fans will be more interested in Bruce's capacity not only to motivate underachieving players but spot unpolished transfer market gems such as Wilson Palacios and, for half a season at least, Amr Zaki, both of whom he brought to Wigan. Quinn can also point to the way in which Bruce successfully revived Emile Heskey's career.
Yet with Heskey and Palacios now moved on and Antonio Valencia likely to be on his way this summer, Bruce had tired of making ends meet and rebuilding teams under Whelan. Swansea City's highly rated young Spanish manager, Roberto Martínez, a former Wigan player, remains the favourite to replace him but matters have been complicated by Celtic's interest in him. There are also suggestions that Whelan may move for Peterborough's Darren Ferguson, and Paul Jewell, the former Wigan manager, is understood to be interested in the post.
