Sunderland manager Steve Bruce will use Aston Villa as his template as he attempts to build lasting success at the Stadium of Light.

Villa are challenging for the coveted fourth spot in the Premier League, having already played in the Carling Cup final and reached the FA Cup last four.

Like the Wearsiders, Villa have an American owner who is happy to stay in the background and let his manager get on with the business of making steady progress towards an ultimate aim, and Bruce is keen to follow Martin O'Neill's blueprint.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday's game at Villa Park, Bruce said: "When I first went in at Birmingham we had a chance of overtaking them, we had beaten them four times and drawn with them twice since we had gone into the Premier League.

"But under Martin, with some good investment from the owner and some shrewd management, they have gone from being in the bottom half of the table - which they were for two, three, four years - all of a sudden now to competing in cup finals, semi-finals, competing for the Champions League.

"They have had a magnificent two or three years under Martin and if there are any parallels to be drawn, that's the example I would love to take.

"It's going to be difficult, but there is no reason why not."

Bruce invested heavily this summer to attract the likes of Darren Bent, Lee Cattermole, Lorik Cana and Michael Turner to the Stadium of Light, but hopes to be able to concentrate his future spending in specific areas.

He said: "I am in a position now, with what we have done so quickly, that whatever the owner gives me in the budget, it will be one or two players rather than six or seven, like we have just done.

"It will be one or two and trying to get the sort of quality that the likes of a Darren Bent brings you.

"That's what we have got to try to do, and Martin has done that with the addition of James Milner, for example.

"Everybody scratched their heads at £12million and thought, 'That's a lot of money for him', but it looks like chicken feed at the moment, doesn't it?

"Bloody hell, you would get double that for him, I would have thought. That's got to be what we are trying to look at."

Bruce and O'Neill found themselves in direct competition for the signature of Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne in the summer, and it was the Northern Irishman who won out as Joleon Lescott's switch to Manchester City sparked the merry-go-round into action.

Bruce thought he had got Dunne, and still believes he might have done so had Wigan not won 2-0 at Villa on the opening day of the season.

Bruce said: "It was frustrating. We tried for three months and we were totally convinced he was coming here.

"But it wasn't to be. Once Villa came up, he didn't have to uproot his family and that geographical thing was brought into the equation again.

"Maybe if Aston Villa hadn't lost their first game of the season against Wigan he might have been a Sunderland player."

Sunderland head into Wednesday's game having established a 10-point gap over the bottom three and with captain Lorik Cana available after suspension. Kenwyne Jones and John Mensah could shake off hip flexor and knee injuries respectively.