Ranking Sunderland's Premier League Managers As Players - Worst To Best

3. Steve Bruce

Steve Bruce is a managerial fraud, and one of the most unpopular names to feature on this list among the Sunderland natives. The table will tell you that he guided Sunderland to 10th, but that papers over the fact that his team - which was crammed full of immense talent - were 6th for a large spell of the season until the 25th game. The Black Cats lost 8 out of 9 games and plummeted as low as 15th, before fortunately leap-frogging a host of teams with a last day win to secure 10th. A season later, Bruce started with 2 wins in 13 games, yet still believed the reason he was fired was because he was from Newcastle; a ridiculous excuse from a ridiculous manager. As a player, Bruce faired better, securing a League Cup and Second Division title with Norwich before his big move to Manchester United. He went on to win three league titles, three FA Cups, one League Cup, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup, though the elusive Champions League title was just out of his reach, and sees Bruce rank third.