Bruce to get summer kitty

Black Cats boss will be allowed to strengthen, if the price is right

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 13th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Bruce to get summer kitty

Bruce & Quinn: Working together

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Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn has promised Steve Bruce he will be given freedom to spend this summer.

The Black Cats have recorded losses of £26million, as the credit crunch continues to bite, but American owner Ellis Short has ensured that the club remain on a stable financial footing.

That means Bruce will be able to strengthen his squad during pre-season, with the North East outfit determined to establish themselves as a Premier League force to be reckoned with.

"I don't know exactly what Steve wants in the summer," said Quinn.

"But if he says to me, 'I want these five and these four can go' and there is a difference of £10m, yeah, we'll live outside our means.

"But we will only do it if Ellis Short says, 'I will do it and the debt is not in the business'.

"In theory, Ellis takes the hit. You have to understand he is a winner. He wants to do things in a smart way.

"He will be happy if we can get rid of that yo-yo tag and have a couple of years in the top 10."

Disclosure

Meanwhile, Quinn has also called for more stringent financial constraints to be put in place within the Premier League, as he feels that would help to alleviate the growing trend of clubs teetering on the brink of collapse.

"There should be some sort of disclosure of where your wages are at, prior to the year ahead," Quinn said in The Guardian.

"A percentage of how much you have coming in and what you are spending on wages.

"At least then every club is telling the chairman of the Premier League, 'This is where we hope to be, this is our business plan,' so nobody has gone off the wall on their own.

"If it looks excessive, the Premier League chairman should have the power to say, 'We as a group are not happy, be careful, you are coming into a red area here'.

"Maybe let clubs do it one year, but if you do it for the third year in the row, you are docked points and you are out of here."

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