10/1. It’s a price that seems to sum up Sunderland at the moment. In the Premier League season preview it was noted that some bookmakers were offering it as a price on their relegation. Now it’s the odds on Steve Bruce becoming the first Premier League manager to leave his post in the 2011/12 season. Neither bet would necessarily be wasted money.

On the face of it, it does perhaps seem a ridiculous notion to suggest that a manager who extended his contract only in February, and whose chairman spoke of the need for stability, may be in danger of losing his job. Yet such has been Sunderland’s form throughout 2011 that questions must be asked, and answers are yet to be found.

The impression of Bruce is someone who has been backed to the hilt by his board but has yet to deliver, consistently at least, a return on those investments. Some of the numbers seem to back it up.

Since taking over in the summer of 2009, Bruce has spent (according to figures on transfermarkt.co.uk) £89.85M, more than Aston Villa and Tottenham, both of whom have finished above the Black Cats in each of the last two seasons. Coupled with a win percentage in the league of just 29.49%, it does not make happy reading for Corbridge-born man.

And it gets worse. In that same two year period, Fulham and Everton have spent a cumulative £44M, less than half the amount put at Bruce’s disposal. Yet like Aston Villa and Tottenham, both clubs have finished above his Sunderland charges.

In 2011, the Black Cats have won only six of the 20 league games they have contested. Victories in two of their final three matches last season may have seen them sneak a top ten finish, but they did so with only 47 points. On just two occasions since the Premier League was cut to a 20 team league in 1995 has a lower total secured a top half finish.

I’d like to say that it’s not as bad as it looks, and there is perhaps an argument to be made. When Bruce took over from Ricky Sbragia, the squad was bloated with far too much mediocre and overpaid talent; the legacy of Roy Keane’s tenure at the club.

Keane spent even more in getting Sunderland out of the Championship and attempting to stabilise them in the Premier League than Bruce has. An astonishing £97.87M was splashed out by the Irishman, with little of it recouped by the club during his time there. Bruce’s net spend, on the other hand, has been drastically reduced in the past eight months by the sale of two of the club’s star players.

A lot of change in a short space of time was necessary then when Bruce arrived to get the club on the right track, and with signings such as Darren Bent there was a certain amount of respect for the work he was trying to do.

That first season panned out much like the second though, a good start followed by a collapse in the New Year (Sunderland failed to win a match in 2010 until they faced Bolton on March 9^th) and a slide into mid-table obscurity. Another busy summer followed in the wake of the World Cup and the capture of both Asamoah Gyan and Stéphane Sessègnon was seen as something of a coup.

Again they began the season well, with draws against Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United plus a win over Manchester City proving that they could live with the bigger boys of the league. But once again disaster struck as the calendar turned, and come mid April Sunderland had dropped as low as 15^th place following defeat against Birmingham; there were even whispers of the dreaded relegation.

Much of that poor form was attributed to either poor form or the sale of Darren Bent in the January transfer window. When Bent left for Aston Villa, Sunderland were riding high in sixth place having collected 34 points at an average of 1.48 per game.

Had they continued that form over the remainder of the season, they would have managed a total of 56 points, just two short of eventual sixth place finishers, Liverpool. In actual fact that collected just 0.87 points per game over the remaining 15 matches, the Bent-shaped hole in their side evident for all to see.

Despite being shorn of local lad Jordan Henderson this summer, there was a feeling that the club had shopped well and addressed some of the problems that had caused such a significant slide in form.

David Vaughan and Sebastian Larsson were much coveted free transfers, while both Wes Brown and John O’Shea were prised from the red half of Manchester in an astute move. Exciting young striking talent was brought in with both Connor Wickham and Dong-Won Ji joining the club, and there was certainly an air of optimism that strong foundations had been laid.

An opening day draw at Anfield looked promising, Brown in particular was outstanding for his new club and Larsson’s equalising goal exhibited the sort of technique that is guaranteed to excite fans. Another Tyne-Wear derby defeat the following week had the effect of tearing the wind from the sails, however, and questions were once again being asked.

Bruce and his team face a crucial match this weekend. A trip to Swansea may not immediately sound like the most difficult of prospects, but should they fail to win, the visit of Chelsea after the international break will loom ominously on the horizon.

Failure to secure victory in any of their opening four matches would only make louder the calls for his head. Given their tendency towards a New Year collapse as well, the lack of a cushion built up by a strong start could prove severely problematic. Should Sunderland lose on Saturday, that 10/1 would begin to look very inviting indeed.