Sunderland FC

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• Manager:Steve Bruce

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Kenwyne stay pleased Sbragia

07 Mar 2009 - 12:07:54

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Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia has revealed that he would have resigned in January if the club had sold Kenwyne Jones to Tottenham.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp had been keen to sell the highly-rated former Southampton star during the transfer window only for the striker to eventually sign a new four-and-a-half year contract at the Stadium of Light.

Sbragia was against selling the Trinidad & Tobago international, saying: "If we'd have lost Kenwyne and, I'll be honest with you, I thought I may as well have packed my bags and just gone.

"We had to keep him at the club and I'd love to keep him here for five, six or seven years because he's so important to us.

"After his injury, he's come back and done extremely well by scoring lots of goals which is what we needed him to do.

"But we had to think about which way we were going as a club. Was it a case of just trying to survive another year or were we thinking long term?

"In the past, this club would probably have sold someone like Kenwyne, but we're thinking long term now. That means keeping our best players and trying to bring in even better ones."