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Steve Bruce (now managing Blackpool)

David Edgar

by David Edgar
in Football

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WillingtonMag

WillingtonMag

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7 minutes ago, Geogaddi said:

Pardew came 5th,16th,10th then left us in 9th. Yeah he was a dickhead but did a far far better job for us than Bruce or any other manager we had under Ashley since Keegan left.

Probably up there as one of our better managers If you look at it like that.

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gjohnson

gjohnson

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On 24/07/2022 at 13:04, Wolfcastle said:

How much more grief did Pardew get as well. 

Bruce got, what!?, one home game of chants of 'sacked in the morning' and s**t online like everybody else.

He handled 95% less stick than Pardew got, worse if anything.

Bruce's nice guy alibi helps swing it too. Pardew never disguised (couldn't really) his c*ntliness.

Bruce seemed far more servile and likely legitimately friendly towards Ashley too.

 

 

 

Pardew was a c**t. He knew it, we knew it, Ashley and Charnley knew it. He bought himself a bit of good will a decent league finish and never seriously looked like relegating us. He won't be remembered fondly by us, but it was realistically his career highlight and thats why he speaks well of us now.

 

Bruce is a c*** but for very different reasons. 

1) Man U

2) Never had a good word to say about us either before and after being "manager" here

3) As loyal as a cat on heat....as all of Sheffield, Birmingham, Palace, and even Sunderland would agree

4) Never accepts responsibility for a defeat despite his "1000 game experience"

5) The landlord stuff

6) Alex Bruce and El Mohammedy

7) Proving that you can become a millionaire by getting repeatedly sacked for being terrible at your job

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Bondedcrown

Bondedcrown

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Steve Bruce exclusive: 'I was ridiculed at Newcastle - so Pep's respect was very flattering'

Luke Edwards

Fri, 29 July 2022 at 7:34 am

Last season was one for West Brom to forget, but Steve Bruce, appointed in February, has added John Swift, Jed Wallace and Okay Yokuslu to his squad while Daryl Dike's return to fitness will be a major boost. Issue date: Monday July 25, 2022 - Steve Bruce exclusive: 'I was ridiculed at Newcastle — so Pep's respect was very flattering' - PA

It was not the phone call from Sir Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourinho that persuaded Steve Bruce to change his retirement plan.

Neither was it the messages of support he received from Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta, Arsene Wenger or the countless other managers who contacted him after he lost his job at Newcastle United. But they did help.

Ultimately, there was one clear reason why Bruce was tempted back into management at West Bromwich Albion, four months after he told Telegraph Sport at a Northumberland golf course that Newcastle was his last job in football. Put simply, he could not quite bring himself to give up what he considers "the greatest bloody job in the world - when you win."

But the reaction from his peers when he left St James' Park does tell its own illuminating story. Bruce freely admits that, when it comes to supporters, “he is not everybody’s cup of tea”, but when it comes to his fellow professionals, his popularity is without question and their messages of support touched even this grizzled veteran of four decades' standing in the game.

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“The things Pep said about me, that he wanted to see me back and to ignore the abuse," said Bruce, his voice croaky after putting his West Brom players through another training session. “That meant a lot. The things Arteta said, that I was one of the most important managers of the last 20 years… The respect they had for me, it was very flattering. I’d been ridiculed at Newcastle and there was no respect shown to me or my staff and they picked up on that. They didn’t like it, that’s one of the things everyone said to me [when I left]."

Supporters on Tyneside who had branded Bruce a "tactically inept cabbage-head" - one of the more memorable lines from our meeting in October - might balk at Arteta's description, but the fact is few managers have endured for so long at the sharp end of the English game.

St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - September 17, 2021 A fan with a printed image of Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce as a cabbage is seen before the match - ACTION IMAGES

“I don’t know why they like me, it’s probably the longevity," Bruce ponders. "They know how tough it is. Mourinho is another one, I get on great with Jose, always have done. As for Pep, he probably remembers taking the p--- out of me as a player for Barcelona when they beat us [Manchester United] 4-0.

“But we all have respect for each other because we know what this job does to you. They look at 25 years [for me] and they know better than anyone what that entails.

"I would take a call from any young manager, in any division, at any level. I’ll try and help anyone who asks for it, because that’s what the generation before me did when I was younger. And I’ve always tried to help the foreign managers when they come in. I guess people appreciate that in the end. They remember those conversations."

When we met in October, there were tears in Bruce's eyes as he repeated his belief that Newcastle would be his last job as a manager. He was walking away with a generous severance package, true, but it was also undeniable that the previous few months had taken an emotional toll.

At the age of 61, after 45 unbroken years in football, starting as a YTS trainee at Gillingham, taking in Norwich City, Manchester United and Birmingham as a player and 10 different clubs as a manager, Bruce was done.

“It was a very emotional experience," he reflects. "I was happy for Newcastle and what the takeover would bring, but I wasn’t wanted and it has been a rough few months.

“I struggled with it, if I’m honest. Everything built up. I just thought, at that time, it was the right time to finish. Come out of the game and do something else with whatever time I have left in this life. That’s how I felt when I spoke to you.

“Then October, November, December and January come through and I’m at home watching football thinking, 'I miss it…'. How could I not? Football is what I know, it’s what I’ve done for more than 40 years. I missed being around the lads, the players, picking a team, preparing a team.

“When you win on a Saturday afternoon it’s the greatest bloody job in the world. I absolutely love it. But you don’t always win, when you’re at some of the clubs I’ve managed. It’s a fight for survival every year and it’s tough. It takes its toll. Unless you’re one of the top fellas, with the best teams, you lose too many games.

“That’s why I liked the Championship. It’s a league that gives you a chance at the start of every season, no matter who you are, to achieve something special. And that’s why I came back when West Brom called. I'd actually turned down a Premier League job before I said yes to this. And one offer from abroad, too. There was something about West Brom.”

Steve Bruce Head Coach / Manager of West Bromwich Albion on July 3, 2022 in Portimao, Portugal - GETTY IMAGES

Indeed there is. Bruce’s best periods as a manager have come at clubs of West Brom's calibre - the likes of Birmingham, Wigan, Hull and Sunderland. He has four promotions from the second tier, the joint record alongside Neil Warnock, so it is not surprising that West Brom asked him to stay on even though he could not maintain a promotion push last season.

“I’ve done 45 unbroken years in the game, nobody has ever done that,” he adds with pride. “It’s given me a wonderful lifestyle, I don’t need to work if I don’t want to, but I still have that enthusiasm.

“I wanted to come back in because I believed I had something to give. I still think I can get West Brom promoted, that was the key thing for me. I want to get them back in the Premier League and keep them there. The supporters have been great with me and it’s a really good job.”

'Time heals... You lick your wounds and you get on with it again'

So what about those retirement plans? "We’d booked a holiday, you know, when the call came from West Brom. A safari in Africa… My wife, she just raised an eyebrow and said, ‘Really, are you sure?’ I said I wasn’t ready to retire, I need to stay active mentally and physically, I’m not ready to accept old age and the quiet life.

“Look at Neil Warnock. He kept retiring, and I can understand why. I know exactly what Bobby Robson meant when he said it’s like a drug... a wonderful, wonderful quote. Every manager will know what he means. I know I’m addicted, but I hope I know when it is time to get out so I can enjoy old age and spend some time with Jan and the family and it’s not too late, you know? Not too late for those around me."

Our time is almost at an end. Bruce has more plans to sift through with his assistants Steve Agnew and Stephen Clemence, and a backroom staff that now includes Alex, his son. The Championship is a notoriously unforgiving environment but there is a quiet buzz of optimism around the club as they prepare for Saturday's season opener at Middlesbrough. Whatever happens in the next 10 months, though, you get the feeling that Bruce is simply determined to savour every moment.  

“That interview, [when I said I’d retired] it was emotional. We, the family, were hurt, we were all hurting. I don't want to put them through it again. But time heals. You lick your wounds and you get on with it again.”

Bruce's verdict on his 12 managerial spells

Sheffield United

It was my first job and I will always be grateful to them for giving me my first chance as player-manager, which was practically impossible. I learned very quickly about managing a football team, but also managing above and the power struggles that take place. That seems to have gone on for most of the last 20 years. Not easy, but a very sharp learning curve.

Huddersfield Town

I’m still blamed to this day for selling our centre-forward, Marcus Stewart, to Ipswich Town when we were top of the league. Not a great moment or thing to do, but we had to in the circumstances because the club and the owner desperately needed the money to keep going. Top of the league with 10 games to go and they sold him on deadline day.

Wigan Athletic

After Huddersfield I had serious thoughts about whether I wanted to do this [management]. I had a big offer to go into television. I thought long and hard but John Benson took me to Wigan with Dave Whelan. It was the start of Dave’s ambition, they’d just built the new stadium and there was a big budget. It was always going to succeed and Dave was a football person. It was a breath of fresh air for me in management. I took it to the end of the season to see how we got on, but we lost in the semi-finals of the play-offs to Reading.

Crystal Palace

I thought I’d done the north and when I got a phone call to go down to London I absolutely loved it. They were a good club and fans, but I have to say I badly let down Simon Jordan, the chairman at the time. I was young, a bit rash, and when Birmingham said they wanted me, I decided I wanted to go. I had played at the club for two years and I thought they would be stable. Palace were first or second in the league at the time. I let him down, and I still regret that.

Birmingham City

I had been there as a player after Manchester United and I needed stability in my life. It was somewhere I knew I would get some time and I’d be given a chance. We got promoted after six months and I had a wonderful six years there, with two promotions and one relegation in the end. I really, really enjoyed it. When I look back at my career, I’ve been in the game 40 years and nearly 10 of those were at Birmingham. It means something to me. I only left because of a takeover, not for the first time as it turned out.

Wigan Athletic

Dave Whelan was flexing his muscles a bit by then. They were in the Premier League, he paid a lot of money to get me and he obviously thought a lot of me to do that. I was flattered. I arguably had my best ever team there. We took 62 or 63 points in a calendar year but by doing that I alerted the world that I had some really good players: Nuno Valencia, Wilson Palacios, Charles N’Zogbia, Emile Heskey, Mario Melchiot, Lee Cattermole, Paul Scharner, Manuel Figueroa, Chris Kirkland in goal... it was the best team I ever managed. We were in the top six until we started to sell them.

Sunderland

Dave being Dave, he encouraged me to take the next step after we had sold too many players to finish in the top 10 again. I went with his blessing to speak to Niall Quinn at Sunderland. It was a big decision on a personal level because I was a Geordie and a Newcastle fan growing up, but I knew Niall was a proper football person, which is key. The relationship between CEO and manager has to be good or you don’t get that stability. We had two good years there: the only top 10 finish since Peter Reid, their highest finish in a decade in the top flight. I had a great strikeforce: Asamoah Gyan, Danny Welbeck, Darren Bent and Fraizer Campbell. Within six months, we didn’t have any of them - that spelt trouble. And it did - I got the sack! I bumped into Ellis Short, the owner at the time, a few years ago. The biggest compliment he could pay me was he said: “I shouldn’t have sacked you, it was the worst mistake I ever made as owner.”

Hull City

I had six months out and I remember people couldn’t believe I said yes to them. But I was there for four years. People asked if I knew what I was doing but they had this guy Peter Chapman who helped me run it and the old fella [Assem Allam], I really liked him. He asked me to help him out and we had the best four years in the history of the club: two promotions, one FA Cup final and a little foray into Europe. It was great times for a club like that. That FA Cup final, 2-0 up against Arsenal and we should have won it but we conceded two goals from set-pieces. F---! I was sad to leave but I had to. There was a lot going on in the background and relationships broke down.

Aston Villa

Great club with a great history, but the reason I got it was they were in a bit of a mess in the Championship. They had won four games out of the last 54 or something. When we won away at Reading, you would have thought we’d won the European Cup, the fans hadn’t seen an away win in so long. First season we kept them up, second season we lost in the play-off final to Fulham. We didn’t play at all well. Kevin Friend, who is retiring this summer, saw Ryan Fredericks stamp on Jack Grealish after 20 minutes and it should have had a red card. We would have won and it was a huge disappointment. Then, again, there was another takeover, which the club badly needed. But the biggest thing I did that summer was fight tooth and nail to keep Grealish because they wanted to sell him and Spurs were there with £10million. They got £100m for him last summer! Great new owners there, even though they sacked me.

Sheffield Wednesday

I really enjoyed it there. Magnificent support - that blew me away. However, after three of four months, I got the phone call from Newcastle and I had to take it. They're my club, my family’s club.

Newcastle United

I'm glad I did the job. Look, it ended badly, but for two years we did ok. My job was to keep us in the Premier League, and I did that. It might take a decade, a bit like Sunderland, but I hope one day people can say: “He didn’t do too bad in the circumstances, with the owner and everything else… end of.”

West Bromwich Albion

I’ve only been here a few months and this is my first pre-season. I’m determined to have a fifth promotion from the Championship. This club has been in the Premier League for 13 seasons out of the last 20, and when they haven't been there, they've largely been in the top four of the Championship. Last season was their worst finish, 10th in the Championship, for 20 years. That’s why I’m here. I’m going to make it the fifth promotion

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Bondedcrown

Bondedcrown

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Just now, gbandit said:

Had to stop reading that, the amount of self-congratulation hidden in there and PR bullshit to try and make out like he’s a great guy. What a fucking load of shit 

Nonsense the man is a great person and football manager! Despite what some of our players have said about his tenure here! :mackems:

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