Sunderland boss Steve Bruce admits he cannot wait for the start of the new season.
The 48-year-old will launch his reign with a trip to Bolton on the opening day of the Premier League campaign, before Chelsea arrive on Wearside for his first home game.
Hopes are high for an encouraging start with the fixture list having pitched the Black Cats into battle with promoted sides Burnley and Wolves before the end of September, although October will bring a trip to Manchester United followed immediately by Liverpool's arrival at the Stadium of Light.
Bruce said: "It's a great start. I'm sure we'll have a huge following at Bolton for the first game, and I certainly couldn't have picked tougher opponents than Chelsea for my first match in charge at the Stadium of Light.
"Bolton are difficult to beat, especially on their own ground, but it's a game that we will go into full of confidence. We will hopefully have some new faces and I have no doubt we will get fantastic backing because everyone knows our away support is unbelievable.
"We have got Manchester United and Liverpool as well as Chelsea to play in our first nine games, but you have got to play everybody twice whenever the fixtures come around, and we will look to enjoy the big games. But of course they are all big games in this league."




Comment 54 - 73 of 73
safcalsftm.....lasat season at some games an adult ticket was £24 a kids a tenner rising up to £29 for liverpool, man u,etc and kids £15,and this year season tickets not much different to the mackems,we would probably hav e paid double if fat freddie was their,(dont come back you wont be welcome),my point is you need as much revenue through the gates,to attract top players and their wages,i am sure mr short is a far more intelligent man than ashley who has hab his sweaty mitts seriously burnt.
newcastleian1 whatever! Why do you keep banging on about our club recognising the current state of the economy and doing the decent thing for the fans and offering season ticket discounts and speacial offers for school parties. Are you happy that your club has over-charged for a number of seasons? Are you happy that your club ripped off the Platinum CLub members by charging then to secure seats and then telling them the security was not wworth one jot and they would have to move seats. By the way this happened during the time of Freddie shepeherd, the same Freddie who is linked with one of the alleged potential bidders and if what I understand is true, then FS is far from happy that Mike Ashley has dropped ticket prices for next season at tyour place. To conclude I prefer a Club and a Chairman who will give us fans a fair deal, rather than one that only sees us as pound signs and has no qualms in ripping us off.
safcalsftm....prize eejit(you would not say that to my face,typical mackem,)2 important points indeed,all the mackems are banging on how well they will do next season,unless he changes the team,not very well,and with your 2 for 1 tickets,you will approx have 10.000 free customers at every home game,not much revenue their,cant see mr short throwing wads of money into it,despite what saint niall is saying.
Ah yes newcastleian1 prize eejit, 2 very important points and 2 very important points ahead of you!! Thank you for reminding me. Ha! Ha!
safcalsftm....what a load of tosh again!!now the small club(who finished a massive....2 points ahead of us??) is now the bigger and better club,at present a club run better than ours,even an idiot could not disagree,bigger club?? not sure what you mean their(think your getting a bit ahead of yourself here)if you had 16 unbroken years in the prem league,competed in the champions league,bigger crowds(ha ha),never played in the 3rd div,you might have a bit of an arguement? 1969 zenith data cup?? a bit of jealousy their i think!
40 years of hurt (54 if you go back to when the Skunks actually won something meaningful, in 1969 the Fairs Cup was accepted as being "Mickey Mouse", a bit like the Zenith Date Systems Cup in the '80's) and now the "small" club is bigger and better than them and you can tell how much it hurts. Set the bait, wind them up, wait for the bite. As Brucey would say: "good game, good game"!! How long this time, I wonder?
impact clean....all safc season tickets sold? not according to your web site fella,26.000 sold,2 for 1 (£1 a ticket) thats approx 13.000 full price tickets sold?? not a lot is it!! as for paying homage! your more deluded than i thought,now going and have a shower, you dirty mackem b.....d.
The trouble with NUFC fans.
40 years thinking they were a big club,no trophie's.
The reason they have large attendance is,nowhere else to go,and nothing else to do.
Shearer,Owen purchased to keep the attention of the fans.appeasement.
The over enlarged belief that they are a massive club.
And now,the crushing reality,that all this was farthest from the TRUTH.
How sad.
Newcastlian,for your information,all cats season tickets have been sold,nufc,sorry mate empty stadium this year,come back on this site when you are a bigger club,until then ,down on your knees and pay homage to a premiership club.
Has anybody bought the shirt yet.I wonder what famous big name will be on it.The most famous name has got to be J Barton,can't think of anyone else.
newcastlian 58.
Point is mate,this is a quote from the great man himself,I reckon he knows what he's talking about,if he says nufc are sh---it,then i would be enclined to believe him,unless of course you are better qualified,in which case you have my humblest apologies.I think maybe Hutch/corrector may be on at me here,still the idea is to learn from your mistakes and not bury your head in the sand.
CAMERON SAFC RAIDER,also known as CINDERELLA,QUEENIE,TITUSARSE,SQUEEKY,NUFCPIMP.always up somebodye's backside.
barrygroves2....comment 58..point being?? you asked how much the newcastle away top is? i replied,too much for you tramps to afford,and was your new strip(away) 2 for 1? a bit like your season tickets to fill your ground?? has that sunk in you gimp.
I will be perfectly happy for cats sitting mid table this season,with brucey Im'e confident.last season was i suppose,a near miss.Our supporters are excited and looking forward to the challenge.We all would like to be close or near the top four,every fans dream,you never know in football the unexpected always round the corner.We must be grateful for what we have and not expect too much,we would not want to be over expectant like our friends at NUFC.The comfort zone is OK! by me,at least we are then guaranteed premiership football,but,you never know should luck and fate smile on us,we could be challengeing for honours."Im'e really excited luck is on our side.
to much for you tramps to afford??anyway i heard your nerw strip was 2 for 1??(a bit @#$% your season tickets!)
From newcastleian1, on Wed 24 Jun 1:02PM
"If people are thinking Newcastle are automatically just going to bounce back, they will be massively disappointed. Things must be changed at the club. Why are things not being changed?"
MALCOLM McDONALD.
CAMERON,SAFC RAIDER.A GAY MONKEY,COS HE'S NOT HUMAN.
Heh, Heh, Heh! Looks like its really getting to them.
16 years we've had to put up with them crowing and looking down their noses at us and we were expected just to taake it and laugh. Now its our turn and within a nano-second its spit out dummy time with newcastleian1 prize eejit the winner, with Cameron Toongerine Dream a close second. They should buy the new shirt, they'd soon see everyone smiling at them (and laughing their socks off behind the poor Skunks' backs). LOL indeed!!
cameron.....safcalsftm....he is a total anorak,he spouts all sorts of s....e,none of which makes any sense,and has the gall to call us scum,but when you tell him a few home truths about sunderland fans he makes no comment!!he bangs on about the new shirt,relegation,shearer ashley,blah blah f.....g blah!! he is a total gimp.
newcastleian1
He's not a mackem mate; doesn't support ANY club, just comes on here to stir.
The regulars on the NUFC pages tend to ignore him now, Hutch sometimes plays along just for amusement but the rest of us try to avoid - watch out for barrygroves2 and pianomusiclive, it's the same 'comedian'!
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