Source: Daily_Mail
As Steve Bruce prepares for a return to Birmingham, we track down admirers
Steve Bruce quit Birmingham in acrimony nearly two years ago. He never took his next club Wigan back to St Andrew's but, now established at Sunderland, he finally returns to City on Saturday. Neil Moxley went in search of tales from Bruce's Birmingham tenure...[LNB] Mr Popular: players at Birmingham City flourished in the atmosphere created by Steve Bruce[LNB]Karren BradyAppointed Bruce as manager in 2001 in her role as managing director [LNB]He is a real motivator. He has the quality to be liked and respected by everyone at any level you care to name, that's what makes him special. [LNB]People warm to him because of that. There are no hidden agendas. He's very clear with the players what is expected. And, for a board of directors, he never moaned in public about not having the players or money to spend. He may have done so behind closed doors, but that's where the discussion ended. [LNB]However, when he does lose his temper, watch out! I remember being in his office at our training ground. It was the time when Christophe Dugarry was playing out of his skin and we had an agent on the phone agitating to get the Frenchman to Spurs. The air was as blue as our shirts. I had never seen him so angry. I actually had to put my head out of the office at one stage and just tell his secretary that it wasn't me he was having a go at! [LNB]There was laughter, but every now and again you could see how serious he was about the job. Sven Goran Eriksson was having a particularly hard time and we were having a drink with another football manager who had better remain nameless. We were discussing the England manager's role and it was the opinion of our guest that no sane boss would want it. Just for a moment, Steve's eyes glazed over and he said: 'But how fantastic would it be if you got it right' [LNB]He was committed, too. I remember when we wanted to sign Jesper Gronkjaer. He ended up getting three different planes to the middle of nowhere and then walking three miles to the meeting. He had just bought some new shoes and when he got back I saw him putting iodine on the blisters. He literally bled for that club! [LNB]Blues fans should give him a great reception. After all, he led the club into the Premier League. [LNB]And there was that night against Villa, too. The Peter Enckelman night. There was a better atmosphere at St Andrew's that night than anything Galatasaray could have produced. It was electric. [LNB]Steve Bruce is an excellent manager. And above all, he is a good bloke, too.[LNB] [LNB]Jerry GillDefender who was sold by Bruce to Northampton[LNB]I'd played for Birmingham in a match at Liverpool, in the third round of the FA Cup, and we were beaten easily. Steve had not been at the club long and I knew that my days might be numbered as changes were afoot. [LNB]Not long afterwards, he loaned me to Northampton and I secured a permanent deal on the back of it. At Easter, we played at Tranmere and I ruptured my cruciate ligament. It was a bad injury and I wondered if I'd be able to make it back into the game at all, let alone at League One level. Yet one of the first calls I received was from Steve. [LNB]He said: 'Come and have the operation with us and do your rehabilitation here as well.' Birmingham had no need to look after me, I wasn't their player. Yet the surgeon, Keith Porter - one of the consultants who looked after the Arsenal striker Eduardo when he broke his leg against Birmingham - did the operation. [LNB]After I had come through that, Steve told me that I was still one of them and if Emile Heskey or Robbie Savage was waiting for treatment and I was on the table, they'd have to wait. [LNB]No disrespect to Northampton, but they didn't have the resources to provide that depth of treatment. [LNB]I went on to play another 250 games in the Football League with Northampton and Cheltenham and enjoyed another six years in the professional game. If you want to know why players respond to him, it's because of gestures like that.[LNB] Jeff KennaDefender who played 75 games for Bruce[LNB]He was a legend in the eyes of the players for a couple of reasons. First, because of what he had achieved. And secondly, because of his ability to limp out of training. [LNB]We used to have 12-minute runs pretty frequently and Steve would start off with all the energy in the world. After about four minutes we'd start nudging one another because, inevitably, his groin, calf or Achilles - and the favourite was the Achilles - would be playing up and he would screw up his face and complain that he couldn't do it and he'd duck out. [LNB]All that changed on Fridays. Friday mornings were reserved for fivea- sides. This was his moment. He would dream up all kinds of teams, English versus the Celts or something like that, and he would join in. [LNB]Strangely enough, the groin or calf or Achilles problem that had forced him out of running the previous day would now be absent and he'd pick himself - normally to play up front. It kills me to say it, but you wanted him on your side. He was useful and you could see why he won all the medals that he did. [LNB]He loved scoring goals. Given all the excess baggage he was carrying around, it was amazing that he still stood out on the pitch! [LNB]It was funny, though. One of the games he organised was the internationals versus the non-internationals. Everyone knows that he was the best uncapped English centre half of his generation, but none of us used to say a word when he picked himself for the internationals. It was a Friday morning, after all. And he hadn't selected the team by then, so everyone kept their mouths shut. [LNB]You could cross the line to a certain extent, but no-one in their right mind would take the mickey out of the manager when he hadn't named the side for Saturday.[LNB] Andy MaxeyBruce's press officer during his St Andrew's reign [LNB]Birmingham tried to sign Peter Luccin, a French midfielder, from Atletico Madrid and it was cloak-and-dagger stuff. It was decided that I'd pick Luccin up from the airport and take him for a meeting at Steve's house. [LNB]Steve's wife, Jan, had gone to visit her mother and he was home alone. It was all going according to plan as we drove in. [LNB]All of a sudden, Steve burst out dressed in his shorts, smoke billowing from the windows. He had put some toast on, gone for a shower and forgotten about it. So here's this player we are trying to impress and his prospective boss is running around halfnaked, waving his arms like a lunatic, with smoke everywhere. [LNB]Needless to say, he went to Real Zaragoza. [LNB]On a more serious note, he really went out of his way to help Jermaine Pennant when he was having a rough time. Steve visited Pennant in Milton Keynes jail and gave him the use of a flat he had bought in Solihull when he was released.[LNB] Stephen ClemenceMidfielder signed by Bruce from Tottenham in 2003 [LNB]When I was given the chance to join Birmingham, I thought I'd phone upa few people who knew Steve Bruce to find out what he was like.[LNB]As a player, there is no point joining a club if you are going to play for someone who makes your life a misery if you are injured or out of the team. Unbeknown to him, I knew some of the lads and rang them up for inside information. [LNB]To a man, they told me that he was fair and that if he had a problem you'd be told to your face. I was getting this sort of information from people who weren't even in his side at that time. Believe me, for a player who isn't in the team to be saying that about the manager, then he must have something going for him. [LNB]Even when I joined Leicester City, he was up front and fair with me. [LNB]I think if you looked after him on the pitch and went about your job in an honest way, then he would repay that. He would sort you out as best he could. You cannot really ask much more than that from any manager.[LNB] Brian MurphyCaretaker, Wast Hills training ground [LNB]I went to St Andrew's one day and bumped into David Gold and Karren Brady. The club was about to be floated on the stock market and they asked me whether I wanted any shares. [LNB]I replied that I couldn't really afford any and went in to see Alan Jones, who was the secretary at the time. He asked me whose name I wanted my shares in. [LNB]I said that there must have been some mistake and told him that I wasn't having any. [LNB]I was up at the ground a lot of the time and the next time I went up there, Alan asked me again about the shares. So I told him again that I didn't have any. [LNB]And he said: 'Yes, you do. Steve Bruce has bought you some.' [LNB]I went to see him about it and he said that it was between us and if I ever told anyone about it, he would kill me. Sorry Steve! [LNB]At the time, I was very touched. I put them in my late daughter's name, Suzanne. It might not seem like a great gesture to many people, but it meant a lot to me.[LNB] BIRMINGHAM v Sunderland: Blues bolstered by defensive duo for Black Cats matchSunderland boss Bruce still bitter over exit from 'impossible' Birmingham jobBirmingham v SUNDERLAND: Kieran Richardson returns for trip to St Andrew'sSunderland defender Nyron Nosworthy signs new contract through to 2012BIRMINGHAM CITY FC
