Soccer-Bruce manages a smile after hardest week as manager

By Mike Collett LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - Hull City's Steve Bruce was left to ponder his hardest week as a manager after a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday left them perilously close to relegation from the Premier League. Hull must beat Manchester United in their last game to have any chance of staying up but Bruce had more on his mind than just a drop into the Championship after his midfielder Jake Livermore tested positive for cocaine this week. "It's been the hardest week I have ever had," Bruce told reporters at White Hart Lane. Second-half goals from Nacer Chadli and Danny Rose sunk Hull who had more than matched Spurs for the first hour in glorious sunshine. But although he had a wry smile talking about his team's survival chances, Bruce was not putting any gloss on the situation regarding Livermore, who has been suspended by the club and could be banned for up to two years for the doping infringement. "The week has been the worst I ever had following the defeat to Burnley and the shocking news about my player," Bruce said. "I am shocked, saddened, disappointed, angry. I can't come to terms with it if I am being honest. "Society today is unfortunately like that and the conversation I had with him was the hardest conversation I have had with any footballer. "He couldn't concentrate or focus on anything when I told him he had failed a drug test, so it didn't really matter what I said. He is obviously in a dark place. "We all feel let down. It's a blossoming career and he has let himself down. Being tarnished with that is awful and he will have to live with the consequences." The fate of Livermore, the club's record signing and an England international, is out of his hands just like Hull's, but Bruce, who won three Premier League titles in nine years at Manchester United, attempted to put on a brave face. "All is not lost. We just have to beat Man United and I haven't done that in 17 years (as a manager) so I have to turn the tables and maybe there is a twist in it," he said. "Manchester United probably owe me something after wrecking my knee, my hip, and my ankle playing for them." Hull are 18th with 34 points and not only have to beat United, having lost all seven games against them in the Premier League, but must also hope Newcastle United fail to defeat West Ham United. Failing that, Hull need Sunderland, on 37 points but with two games to play, to lose to Arsenal and Chelsea. (Editing by Ed Osmond)