Source: Telegraph
Steve Bruce calls Stan Collymore an 'idiot' after David Beckham award criticism
The former Manchester United captain took aim at Collymore as he defended his controversial decision to make former Old Trafford team-mate David Beckham his man of the match in the midweek England game.
Bruce hit out at Collymore, who works for TalkSport, after the former Liverpool striker rubbished his decision to single out Beckham for praise following his cameo appearance as a substitute during the 3-0 defeat of Belarus at Wembley.
Bruce also told one of Collymore’s TalkSport colleagues that he would not grant him a post-match interview, despite the fact that the station has paid for full commentary rights for the Liverpool game, with the coverage led by the former Aston Villa player.
Bruce said. “It’s incredible - I have been known such a carry-on, I have to tell you. When I was in the stadium he came on to the pitch and, let’s be fair, for 50 minutes it was dull, boring and uninteresting.
“That’s the way I looked at it, but when David Beckham came onto the scene the whole stadium in unison rises to him and I thought blooming heck, wow, fantastic, now Dave what have you got?
“For me, for the 35-40 minutes he lit up Wembley with his attitude and that is why Fabio Capello keeps picking him for England to go into the squad to do something like that for him. Maybe he can’t do it for 90 minutes, however for me he had an impact.
“That is the way I called it, then I saw Mr Powell’s article calling it grotesque in the Mail and then I flicked over the page and his correspondent gave Peter Crouch man of the match nine, and David Beckham eight.
“Yet he was caning me for some grotesque insult to English football and then you get that other idiot, Stan Collymore, who I had to switch off on the radio on the way home. I had to say to the driver please turn him off that. It is totally embarrassing. He is one person that... don’t get me tied on that one.”
Bruce is now focusing on the visit of Liverpool to the North-East.
“I hope we can take the form we showed in the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford into the game,” Bruce added.
“Whenever Liverpool come to town you know you are in for a tough challenge, because they are a big club with a great history and tradition, and when they have been beaten back-to-back we have to be aware of that.
“But if we can perform like we did at Old Trafford will give Liverpool a good run for their money. It’s a shame for the players that they didn’t quite hang on, but we played well on the day, from 1 to 11, in an old fashioned team, but there have been times of inconsistency.
“But we will get our backsides kicked if we don’t reproduce those standards that we showed at Old Trafford. We are progressing very nicely I hope we can repeat the performance.”
Bruce also lavished praise on Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard, who he is expecting to lead his team into action on Wearside, despite concerns over a groin injury that ruled him out of the England side last week.
He said: “He is arguably one of the genuine world-class players who is as good as anyone there is and he is worth the admission money on his own - I have huge admiration for players like him and Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt, who I reckon is really under-rated.”
Bruce has handed former Liverpool midfielder Bolo Zenden a contract until the end of this season because his “experience will be invaluable”, although he is unlikely to be available this weekend due to red tape.
Doubts remain over striker Kenwyne Jones following his international commitments with Trinidad & Tobago.
“We are trying to contact Kenwyne,” Bruce said. "But in all seriousness we knew he played on Wednesday and I hope he is as fresh as a daisy and looking forward to playing Liverpool. We will assess him, and Lorik Cana I will leave until the last minute.”
