Sunderland manager Steve Bruce believes that Darren Bent can score regularly for England.
The striker is in the fray to lead the line in the upcoming qualifier against Montenegro, as Emile Heskey's retirement and injuries to Jermain Defoe and Bobby Zamora have curtailed Three Lions boss Fabio Capello's choices when it comes to his frontmen.
Now Bruce - who regrets having never played for the senior national team himself - hopes that the 26-year-old will replicate his club form at international level should he be given a chance.
"At least Darren’s been on the fringes, I never got in the fringes I don’t think, but no, I mean, it’s the one regret obviously that hangs over me," the Black Cats boss told Absolute Radio.
"I hope for Darren’s sake that he does get a run because I’m convinced he can score goals for England. On my own personal side, it’s the one thing that did elude me. I’d have loved to have played for my country, it never happened, for whatever reason. However, it's football and I’ve lived with it now for… It's never going to come back now at my age, but yeah, there’s a tinge of thinking, you know, ‘Why, why didn’t it happen?’ or ‘What for?’ but there you have it."
Bruce also lavished praise on Bent, likening him to Liverpool's legendary striker Ian Rush, adding: "Well when you think of Darren Bent, what he’s done here, I think he’s got the first goal 19 times since he’s been here.
"He’s played 48 times for the club and scored 32 goals, which is quite a remarkable achievement for somebody in a club like ours which finished midway in the Premier League. Of course you can identify him to Ian Rush if you like at Liverpool or some fantastic goal scorers, but these goal scorers are playing for a huge, big club who probably make more chances than what we do for him, but he’s had a huge impact on Sunderland.
"As I’ve said to you, them stats are quite unbelievable, 32 goals in 48 games, scoring the first goal 19 times is quite an unbelievable achievement."
Bruce also added that he believed England boss Fabio Capello could look to some of his Sunderland players as prospects for the future:
"I’m sure we’ve got some very, very good young players, and he’ll be aware of it. Kieran Richardson at left-back for one, you know, has been playing exceptionally well. Unfortunately he got an injury.
"And I suppose the big one for everybody is we’ve got two England under-21s playing, one’s not ours, Danny Welbeck on loan from Manchester United of course, and the other one of course that everybody’s talking about in the game is Jordon Henderson, which I’m sure Mr Capello will know all about."
In the meantime, Sunderland have a weekend fixture against Manchester United at the Stadium of Light. And the former Wigan Athletic boss is anxious to see his charges doing well against the title chasers.
"When you’re managing I don’t think you can say it tests your ability because you hope that you’ve prepared your team well enough, you hope that your tactics are right, but when the players go over the white line on the Saturday there’s nothing much you can do about it," he said.
"So it’s always a one where, maybe not to look forward to, but there’s a hint of trepidation shall we say because of the quality of who you’re playing against."
The 49-year-old then shed light on his own days as a player under Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
"Yeah, he used to bark a lot at me, he used to bark at myself and every one of us," Bruce said.
"I mean, the biggest thing I can say is that he brought me there, he brought me there and made me captain of one of the biggest clubs in the world, and for that I’ll always be grateful.
"He was a wonderful manager to work for, had us all in the palm of his hand, and has proved to be arguably the best manager there’s been, and certainly to work under him and see how he works I can understand how he’s done it."
He continued: "I think in management, one thing you’ve got to do is handle it in the way you think is best, so I wouldn’t try to copy Sir Alex on anything at all, because I think if you try and copy anybody you get found out.
"You’ve got to do it from where you think it comes from yourself and make your own decision on that, and that’s one thing, whether you handle players off the field. The hardest part of the game is you’re looking after 25 - 35 young men, wealthy young men, and the one thing you can do is you can guide them and try and educate them and help them, but you can’t live their life, but there’s got to be a respect if you possibly can and try and do it your way."
Finally, the Sunderland manager put forward his views on the change he sees in his squad since last season.
"I think the squad is better equipped, I hope it is," Bruce said.
"We had a good start last year, we’ve played very, very well this year. You know, I Hope that we’re making progress, I think we are, time will tell. I hope that we don’t have a horrible mid-season like we did last year and keep improving, and that’s the aim."
The striker is in the fray to lead the line in the upcoming qualifier against Montenegro, as Emile Heskey's retirement and injuries to Jermain Defoe and Bobby Zamora have curtailed Three Lions boss Fabio Capello's choices when it comes to his frontmen.
Now Bruce - who regrets having never played for the senior national team himself - hopes that the 26-year-old will replicate his club form at international level should he be given a chance.
"At least Darren’s been on the fringes, I never got in the fringes I don’t think, but no, I mean, it’s the one regret obviously that hangs over me," the Black Cats boss told Absolute Radio.
"I hope for Darren’s sake that he does get a run because I’m convinced he can score goals for England. On my own personal side, it’s the one thing that did elude me. I’d have loved to have played for my country, it never happened, for whatever reason. However, it's football and I’ve lived with it now for… It's never going to come back now at my age, but yeah, there’s a tinge of thinking, you know, ‘Why, why didn’t it happen?’ or ‘What for?’ but there you have it."
Bruce also lavished praise on Bent, likening him to Liverpool's legendary striker Ian Rush, adding: "Well when you think of Darren Bent, what he’s done here, I think he’s got the first goal 19 times since he’s been here.
"He’s played 48 times for the club and scored 32 goals, which is quite a remarkable achievement for somebody in a club like ours which finished midway in the Premier League. Of course you can identify him to Ian Rush if you like at Liverpool or some fantastic goal scorers, but these goal scorers are playing for a huge, big club who probably make more chances than what we do for him, but he’s had a huge impact on Sunderland.
"As I’ve said to you, them stats are quite unbelievable, 32 goals in 48 games, scoring the first goal 19 times is quite an unbelievable achievement."
Bruce also added that he believed England boss Fabio Capello could look to some of his Sunderland players as prospects for the future:
"I’m sure we’ve got some very, very good young players, and he’ll be aware of it. Kieran Richardson at left-back for one, you know, has been playing exceptionally well. Unfortunately he got an injury.
"And I suppose the big one for everybody is we’ve got two England under-21s playing, one’s not ours, Danny Welbeck on loan from Manchester United of course, and the other one of course that everybody’s talking about in the game is Jordon Henderson, which I’m sure Mr Capello will know all about."
In the meantime, Sunderland have a weekend fixture against Manchester United at the Stadium of Light. And the former Wigan Athletic boss is anxious to see his charges doing well against the title chasers.
"When you’re managing I don’t think you can say it tests your ability because you hope that you’ve prepared your team well enough, you hope that your tactics are right, but when the players go over the white line on the Saturday there’s nothing much you can do about it," he said.
"So it’s always a one where, maybe not to look forward to, but there’s a hint of trepidation shall we say because of the quality of who you’re playing against."
The 49-year-old then shed light on his own days as a player under Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
"Yeah, he used to bark a lot at me, he used to bark at myself and every one of us," Bruce said.
"I mean, the biggest thing I can say is that he brought me there, he brought me there and made me captain of one of the biggest clubs in the world, and for that I’ll always be grateful.
"He was a wonderful manager to work for, had us all in the palm of his hand, and has proved to be arguably the best manager there’s been, and certainly to work under him and see how he works I can understand how he’s done it."
He continued: "I think in management, one thing you’ve got to do is handle it in the way you think is best, so I wouldn’t try to copy Sir Alex on anything at all, because I think if you try and copy anybody you get found out.
"You’ve got to do it from where you think it comes from yourself and make your own decision on that, and that’s one thing, whether you handle players off the field. The hardest part of the game is you’re looking after 25 - 35 young men, wealthy young men, and the one thing you can do is you can guide them and try and educate them and help them, but you can’t live their life, but there’s got to be a respect if you possibly can and try and do it your way."
Finally, the Sunderland manager put forward his views on the change he sees in his squad since last season.
"I think the squad is better equipped, I hope it is," Bruce said.
"We had a good start last year, we’ve played very, very well this year. You know, I Hope that we’re making progress, I think we are, time will tell. I hope that we don’t have a horrible mid-season like we did last year and keep improving, and that’s the aim."
Sunderland Manager Steve Bruce Believes Darren Bent Can Lead The Line For England
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