Source: SKY_Sports
Bruce blasts back at Blanc
Steve Bruce has offered a fiery riposte to Laurent Blanc's damning indictment of Sunderland.
The Bordeaux boss recently incurred the wrath of the Black Cats after insinuating that they are not a big club.
The North East outfit have expressed an interest in Marouane Chamakh, with the Moroccan striker generating plenty of attention in England.
Blanc, though, believes his free-scoring frontman deserves better than a switch to the Stadium of Light, and has admitted as much.
In the wake of Sunderland's interest hitting the headlines, the French coach said: "If he has to go, it will be to a big club. That's why I'm standing in the way of a departure to Sunderland."
Those comments have infuriated Bruce, with the Black Cats boss of the opinion that Bordeaux's Ligue 1 title success last season has gone to their coach's head.
Insulting
"I know he (Blanc) won the league there last year, and fair play to him, but he knows what it's like in the North East if he has any memory at all," Bruce said on the former Manchester United centre-half.
"Maybe he hasn't got any memory now that he's won a league and thinks he's the top coach in Europe all of a sudden.
"Some of the comments coming out of Bordeaux are the most disrespectful I can imagine.
"I think it's insulting to us to say things like that. I wouldn't dream of saying that about any club. I don't know what big club they think they are, but I think we dwarf them in terms of attendances.
"We tried a week ago to try to do a deal properly and see if we could have a meeting with their president, but we're not getting anywhere."
