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David Bruce leaving SAFC

Instead of everyone flapping why don’t we wait see what KLD’s plans are? I think the kid has shown that he’s highly ambitious. Bruce seems to have done a great job, if KLD has a vision to take us to another level again though I’m happy to trust his judgement. I’ve never felt more connected to the club, I think he definitely “gets” us.
 

Smiter said:
You literally just posted on another thread saying don’t turn this into another stadium expansion thread, and here you go again :lol:
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I posted on a thread, where the OP had asked about the costs involved, asking for people not to turn it into another “we need one/we don’t need one” thread.
 
woodlebert said:
Nothing, I asked because I didn't know
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He' becoming interim CEO, so should revert to his non-exec role in future. For what it's worth, I suspect an incoming CEO will be appointed to the SAFC board (but not the Sunderland board) on appointment, with KLD moving to non-exec chairman. This reflects what has happened in the past at the club, and is also considered better corporate governance.
 
Helmerroids said:
Instead of everyone flapping why don’t we wait see what KLD’s plans are? I think the kid has shown that he’s highly ambitious. Bruce seems to have done a great job, if KLD has a vision to take us to another level again though I’m happy to trust his judgement. I’ve never felt more connected to the club, I think he definitely “gets” us.
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Whilst I agree he has shown ambition, absolutely, can I just ask in what way have you felt more connected to the club, as opposed to previous regimes?
This isn’t a dig at all, just a genuine question.
 
Grumpy Old Man said:
He' becoming interim CEO, so should revert to his non-exec role in future. For what it's worth, I suspect an incoming CEO will be appointed to the SAFC board (but not the Sunderland board) on appointment, with KLD moving to non-exec chairman. This reflects what has happened in the past at the club, and is also considered better corporate governance.
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Could it point to outside investment? Seems like this new setup would be more geared towards investment than the current setup with KLD doing the day to day decision maker. This new setup would have the CEO answering to the board wouldn't it?
 
chriswallace85 said:
Absolutely no disrespect to David Bruce, but you can't employ somebody above their pay grade just because they're a fan. Things move on.

At the end of the day, the reconnection has been made. The project has been delivered. And most importantly, those still at the club have seen how it's done.
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This is how I see it. Everything has worked well, the "project" and the the on field progress is ahead of schedule, you could argue he is a victim of his own success. If you are brought in to improve certain operational aspects, set various other targets that you meet and, as a result of this and the great work by others, expectations are met and in fact exceeded. Job done. If he had met all his targets, but others had not, and we had been relegated, he could have found himself with better offers or we may have needed to make cost savings. The remit of the CEO will be different and, in fact, it feels amicable from the club statement, this could be a very expected and obvious decision to him.
But as fans who would love to be in a position to help the club in this way, like he has, we would want to stay, but I'm sure he understands it a lot better than we do and will be immensley proud of the job he has done and to have it on his CV.
 
DonaldDownTheWing said:
It was a coup to get him in the championship though. He felt like a very Premier League level operator.
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Absolutely this. He had one of the top marketing jobs in sport globally, there's no way we would've got Bruce if he didn't have an emotional connection to Sunderland.

I have nothing but trust in the people running the club, and this is presumably a signal of ambition. That said, you can't put a price on having people around who truly get the club. As others have said, it's the culmination of little things that are the mark of a good sporting exec.

Football is a fragile business. All it takes is a few bad results and a few off-the-field blunders to turn good to bad. It's a real shame that they couldn't find a place for him in whatever comes next.
 
Father Jack Hackett said:
Whilst I agree he has shown ambition, absolutely, can I just ask in what way have you felt more connected to the club, as opposed to previous regimes?
This isn’t a dig at all, just a genuine question.
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I'd say the past 24 months, the progress made, the 'til the end campaigns, improvements in social media, the merchandising etc, it's all better than it's been in years, and in some respects, ever.

It's a world away from the cold ownership of Short and the monkeys we had running the place under him. Nor is it the small time bullshit we saw under Donald & Methven.

Having Quinny in the boardroom was great, but even then I'm not sure they quite managed to tap into the fanbase and create the sort of buzz we have at the minute.

Murray did some great things for the club, and the Reid years were great, but too much had gone on beforehand. Even when we were flying, many never took to him. He never had the money to give the fans what the truly wanted.
 
chriswallace85 said:
I'd say the past 24 months, the progress made, the 'til the end campaigns, improvements in social media, the merchandising etc, it's all better than it's been in years, and in some respects, ever.

It's a world away from the cold ownership of Short and the monkeys we had running the place under him. Nor is it the small time bullshit we saw under Donald & Methven.

Having Quinny in the boardroom was great, but even then I'm not sure they quite managed to tap into the fanbase and create the sort of buzz we have at the minute.

Murray did some great things for the club, and the Reid years were great, but too much had gone on beforehand. Even when we were flying, many never took to him. He never had the money to give the fans what the truly wanted.
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David Bruce’s influence? I’m right with you regarding the progress but, I think a lot of people are aligning that with “a connection”. I personally feel no more connected than I did when we reached the League Cup Final or finished 7th a couple of times, I’m just enjoying being good.
 
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All these recent departures signal a move away from SAFC as a local British club and towards a European/international outlook imo.

No bad thing in some ways, but I'd hate to lose our identity in the process, which I think is a real risk.
 
Interesting to see where Bruce goes - everyones assuming that its KLD's call to go to 'the next level' where he may well have been headhunted and be going to the next level himself
 
Joe Baker said:
All these recent departures signal a move away from SAFC as a local British club and towards a European/international outlook imo.

No bad thing in some ways, but I'd hate to lose our identity in the process, which I think is a real risk.
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Does it have to go “hand in hand “?
I’m naive when it comes to big buisness marra
 
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