Gary Newbon: Bruce’s Blues return brings back some happy memories

Memories of Steve Bruce, as captain and later manager of Birmingham City, will flood back when his new club Blackpool take on Blues in their home FA Cup second round tie on November 30.

Bruce, now 63, has always been media-friendly. My first involvement with him was when Steve was a central defender and captain of Manchester United.

He was with United from 1987 to 1996. When ITV had the live football contract before the Premier League was formed and then afterwards when ITV had the European Champions League rights, I found myself interviewing Bruce on a regular basis.

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I could always rely on him, while other players’ availability sometimes depended on the result!

He was born in the North-east, in Corbridge, Northumberland. He began his career deeper south at Gillingham in 1979 and stayed there until 1984 when he joined Norwich.

His three years with the Canaries saw him win the Football League Cup (then known as the Milk Cup) in 1985.

The 1-0 Norwich win at Wembley was decided by an own goal from Sunderland’s Gordon Chisholm. Both clubs, ironically, were relegated to the second division when the season ended.

Steve then moved to Manchester United for the highlight of his playing career – 11 trophies were won including three Premier League titles, three FA Cups, one League Cup and one European Cup Winners’ Cup.

These achievements included Steve captaining United to a Premier League and FA Cup double.

Despite his success, Bruce was never picked for England. Many people considered Bruce to be the best player of the 1980s and 1990s never to be selected for the full England team.

It would be fair to say that Steve made the most of his limited natural ability with a solid, energetic and committed all-round play.

He was a calm and deliberate passer of the ball and was good on it under pressure.

He also scored goals and was a deadly penalty taker. He was brave and determined and his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, often commented on these qualities.

He played 417 games for the Old Trafford club, scoring 52 goals – the latter an amazing figure for a central defender.

It was a pity that Bruce left United after being left out of the 1996 FA Cup final team which beat Liverpool 1-0 with an 86th minute goal by Eric Cantona.

Within days, Bruce, then 36, was off to Birmingham City.

Trevor Francis, one of Blues’ great players, was by now manager at St Andrew’s and wanted players with top division experience.

He signed five including Bruce, who clearly thought, even in haste, that his future at United was now over.

Ferguson denied that was the case but Bruce decided to join the first division club on a free transfer. His two-year contract put him among the highest paid players.

Francis made him captain although it was reported that they had several disagreements.

In July 1998, Bruce hooked up with Sheffield United as player-manager and made 11 appearances before retiring as a player.

He was soon causing controversy when he tried to take his team off the pitch in an FA Cup tie with Arsenal.

His side had deliberately put the ball out of play to allow an injured player to receive treatment.

But Arsenal scored from the throw-in instead of, in the spirit of the game, giving the ball back from the throw-in. The game was declared void and replayed!

Steve spent 20 years as a player with five clubs.

He has so far spent over 24 years as a manager with 12 clubs (two spells at Wigan Athletic) including three from the Midlands – Birmingham City, Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion.

His fifth managerial post saw him return to Birmingham City in 2001 for six years as manager. He twice led Birmingham to promotion to the Premier League.

I recall three stories in particular. We both used the great Lapworth pub called The Boot. My twin boys – Laurence and Neil – were 21 on August 16, 2001 and we had a celebration lunch for them with my wife Katie and daughter Claire.

I spotted Steve and his wife Janet in the pub garden and asked them to join us for a class of Champagne. They later left as we went to lunch, only for me to discover that Steve had paid for all our Champagne.

Then in 2005, I took over The Boot’s restaurant to celebrate my 60th birthday in 2005 and Steve and Janet were two of my 100 guests.

And I recall standing behind Steve near the Birmingham bench during a televised Blues match at St Andrew’s. As he turned round to say something to me there was a shout for a penalty.

Steve had not seen it but claimed it loudly! Then he turned to me and smiled: “Well, I had to didn’t I?” He has always had a great sense of humour.

After spells at Wigan, Sunderland and Hull City (the latter led to two promotions to the Premier League and a losing 2014 FA Cup final), he took over at Aston Villa in October 2016 when they were in the Championship.

The following season, they reached the play-offs final but lost 1-0 to Fulham in the final and missed out on a Premier League place. In October, he was sacked after Villa’s then poor run of form.

After Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle, his penultimate club as manager was Albion in February 2022 who were sixth in the Championship at the time. He left the Baggies eight months later with the team 22nd.

And then he landed at Blackpool, with the forthcoming tie with the Blues.

In Tuesday’s column in both the Birmingham Mail and Coventry Telegraph with Utilita Energy I’ll give my thoughts on the shock sacking of Mark Robins by Coventry City.