Steve Bruce wants to see Birmingham City prosper
STEVE Bruce’s last Blues game as manager was the 2-1 defeat at home to Villa on November 11, 2007.After five years and 11 months in charge – making him the club’s longest-serving manager post-war – his win-loss-draw record from 269 games was 102 wins, 100 losses, 67 draws.Bruce joined Trevor Francis’ Blues as a player from Manchester United in 1996 and made 84 appearances, captaining the side and earning player-of-the-year honours, before taking the Sheffield United player-manager’s job in 1998.He returned to Blues as manager on December 12, 2001, following an extended period of ‘gardening leave’ after leaving Crystal Palace.On Saturday he brings his Sunderland team to St Andrew's, the first time he has been back since his departure to Wigan Athletic.In an exclusive interview, he talks to COLIN TATTUM about his exciting times at the helm and his exit, Carson Yeung and what Blues must do in the future.
Bruce continued: “Now I think I’m like most people in that I don’t know enough about him to comment on whether he will be good for Birmingham.
“He’s come up with the money this time and taken the club on and I hope for the supporters’ sake and for Alex McLeish’s sake that the promises he’s made happen.”
Bruce said he could understand why the majority of Blues’ followers had welcomed him, despite the events of two years ago.
“It’s probably given the whole place a lift, his takeover, and the sums we’ve seen bandied about.
“Overall, when you assess the previous owners, from where the club was, to where it is now and its value, they made Birmingham very, very stable. They’ve never been in the position of a Leeds or a Charlton.
“The biggest thing for me, and I’m sure a lot of other people too, was because of the sheer wealth of the owners I always thought ‘could we have invested more?’
“To be fair, they did give me every bit of money that was generated but, at the same time, I always felt that it was not quite enough. There was that spell when Villa were down and we were on the up. Maybe we could have gone on, but now they’re the top team in the city again.
“They ran a very, very tight and stable ship. There were frustrations with budgets and all the rest but me and my staff just got on with it. Hopefully, enough people will look back and realise a decent job was done.”
