Steve Bruce is hoping his Sunderland side can help him to the "next step" in his career by landing some silverware.
The Wearsiders take on Aston Villa in the fourth round of the Carling Cup at the Stadium of Light with Bruce banking on his players to enable him to achieve a personal milestone.
Bruce, who arrived at Sunderland from Wigan over the summer, said: "I think managers are put under huge pressure to stay in the Premier League. If you don't then you can lose your job."
He added: "My attitude towards it is 'what am I managing for?'
"We all dream about being a Premier League manager and the next step is 'can we realistically win something?'
"I have never been remotely close but that has to be the aim."
Sunderland have not reached the League Cup final since 1985 when they lost to a Norwich side which featured a young Bruce at centre-half.
And the former Manchester United defender is hoping the club can make a serious bid for a place at Wembley this time round.
He added: "If you can get on a cup run it can give the whole club, the whole area a boost. I think the fans want to see you take it seriously and we have a chance, we are a Premier League team.
"But this competition is more difficult than the FA Cup as the big boys don't come into it (the FA Cup) until later."
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JoJo
i speak only the truth; and sadly YES you are right, i am an authority on hype (and overpaid pap!!!!).
nosworthy and murphy playing we got very little chance of winning tonite ,hope i'm wrong but lump on villa to win at odds of 2-1
I will never argue with Camerool about 'over-hyped' , those pedestrian crossings know ALL about that, doncha boys?
No chance; this safc side is so overhyped it's laughable!
No chance; this safc side is so overhyped it's laughable!
sounds kinda French and saucy... you little tinker you.
gglynes: what ever a "sauage nose" is, I like the sound of it.
Dream on sauage nose.
It's three in the morning as something stirs, gently at first but then exploding in a flurry of pillow, duvet and sweat. TK sits bold upright in bed , the duvet cover with it's 'Toon Army' crest a twisted knot in his shaking hand. As he reaches frantically for the phone to call Uncle J, he realises the nightmare has ridden roughshod through his tortured mind once more; the Makems won a trophy before the Toon....
Toony & John: for the last flamin' time, will you give the lesser / bigger club thing a rest. We are all as irrelevant / relevant as eachother.
If you're interested, I don't think we are consistent enough to go on a cup run this season... but you lot definitely aren't.
Why are there always more bar-codes than us on these pages? You lot must be doing a Jethro and living in the past....still, moths to the flame, quality draws all....
Tony K, I hear what you're saying mate and I agree with you that the big clubs don't take this competition seriously, but there are a few lesser clubs that are bigger than Sunderland that do, Aston Villa being one of them.
if Sunderland do get knocked out tonight, at least they can say they got one step further than Newcastle. effing scumbag!
The carling cup is your only hope as none of the big clubs take it seriously until theyve been dumped out of the other more meaningful competitions, and by that point its often too late for them with regards to the carling cup as theyve already had their reserve team knocked out. Having said that, I cant see anything but a Villa win here so Sunderlands wild dreams of silverware will have to wait another year.....
very Nice dream as well , we would all like to get to the final again. It would do the area the power of good.
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