There has been a lot of hype surrounding the status of Andre Villas-Boas with Chelsea FC over the course of the last few weeks, but contrary to popular belief, the Premier League news broke on Thursday that the first manager of the season, Sunderland’s Steve Bruce, has been sacked.

Bruce was with the Black Cats starting in 2009. He inherited a team that just barely survived the drop into Coca-Cola Championship the year before, and he turned it into a middle of the table team. The squad finished in 13th place in 2009-10, his first season on the job, and more importantly, avoiding relegation wasn’t even a concern late on in the season. The team nearly finished closer to the European competition zone than the relegation zone.

In 2010-11, things got even better, as the Black Cats finished with 47 points and ended up in the top half of the table in 10th position. Once again, there was a serious threat for awhile about this team being in European competition, and relegation wasn’t even in the thoughts of their supporters.

This year though, things haven’t gone so well for Sunderland. The team only has two triumphs to show for its work in 13 matches, and though it is level in goal differential for the year, the 11 points in 13 matches is only just barely good enough to stay above the relegation zone for the time being.

Losing out on Asamoah Gyan has proven to be a big problem for Sunderland this year, as he was the heart and soul of the team’s offense. That being said, there was a slew of money that was put into the team like Wes Brown, Craig Gardner, and perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle for a young team, veteran John O’Shea. However, things just never worked out for the new players, and Sunderland’s management had no choice but to make a change.

Martin O’Neill is schedule to take over at the Stadium of Light as soon as this weekend. O’Neill used to manage both Leicester City and Aston Villa in the EPL, and he is going to bring that experience to his hometown team. First up this weekend is a clash with Wolverhampton, a team which sits level with the Black Cats on the Premier League table in terms of points with 11. If there is a loser of this game, that team will be in a heck of a lot of trouble in the relegation zone, especially if Wigan continues its form and can get out of the bottom of the table.

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