Steve Bruce may be a Geordie, but he insists he does not care if he has wrecked his chances of ever managing Newcastle.
Bruce was named the new manager of Sunderland at the start of the week in something of a shock move for a man known to have deep Geordie roots.
When reports of a switch to Sunderland first emerged it was assumed Bruce would rather hang on for his ‘dream job’ at Newcastle.
Nothing could be further from the truth for the former Wigan man though, whose arrival has already been hailed by members of his newly-adopted squad.
"Managing Newcastle has never been my dream as a boss,” Bruce told The Sunderland Echo.
"I'm in football management now and I look for the right job more than anything else. And this opportunity at Sunderland has got everything I want – the infrastructure, the fanbase, an ambitious chairman and an ambitious new owner.
"I don't need anything else – I've got everything here. Everything you look for as an ambitious manager is here at Sunderland.
"It's is a big club with a big history, a long tradition and the potential to really go places."
One of Bruce’s first jobs will be identifying which players of the current squad he wants to keep, and it appears Ipswich-targeted Carlos Edwards is ready to stay if wanted.
"It's going to be a new challenge for Steve Bruce and the rest of the players like Kenwyne and myself,” Edwards said.
"We've never played under him, so we don't know what to expect. But I hope it's a bright future for Sunderland and myself as a player. “Hopefully the squad can kick forward from here on.”