Brendan Rodgers, Roberto Martinez et al may be in vogue, but the former Manchester United defender deserves more credit... The ignorant view of Steve Bruce is that he's a managerial dinosaur. A figure from the bad old days who is out of touch with the modern game and its sophisticated ways, who only knows the long ball. He does not fit in with the new breed of young managers, such as Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez. While they stand on the touchline in their smart suits, the portly Bruce cuts a very different figure in his Hull tracksuit. How totally wrong this view is. Bruce is the most underrated manager in the Premier League. Just look at his record. Look at what he did at Birmingham. He led that Cinderella club into the Premier League in 2002 and kept them there for four years. Then when they were relegated in 2006, he brought them straight back up in 2007. When Birmingham no longer appreciated him, he returned to Wigan and worked his magic there. The Latics were in deep relegation trouble when Bruce walked back into the club after Chris Hutchings' disastrous spell in charge. Yet Bruce kept them up in 2008 and led them to 11th place the following season, despite losing top players like Emile Heskey and Wilson Palacios. I've always felt that Bruce's 18 months at Wigan have been unfairly ignored in favour of Paul Jewell's reign before him and Martinez's after. Yet Martinez's league record was worse and the Spaniard never took the Latics to 11th during his time. There is also this perception that Wigan were little more than a poor man's Wimbledon under Bruce, humping the ball long all the time. Yes, they did not pass the ball as much as Wigan subsequently did under Martinez, but they weren't all long ball. Bruce's time at Sunderland is seen as a failure, yet he guided them to 13th in his first season in 2010. I'm sure the Wearsiders would love to repeat such 'failure' this season as they fight relegation. As a Newcastle-loving Geordie, the Sunderland fans tolerated him at best and when things started to go wrong, they could not get rid of him quick enough. Their loss was Hull's gain and seven months after his sacking by Sunderland, he was appointed Tigers boss in June 2012. He won promotion back to the Premier League in his first campaign and has topped that this season by leading Hull to the FA Cup semis for the first time since the 1930. Hull are also on course to stay up, making this potentially their best-ever season. Bruce has achieved this because he has an eye for a player and his signings of Tom Huddlestone for a bargain £5.5million, Jake Livermore and Nikica Jelavic have been inspired. He can switch formations and he play wing-backs or the traditional 4-4-2. He is an excellent man manager and he gets the best out of all his players at Hull, while letting them know who is boss. Out of all of Fergie's former players, he has proved to be the best manager and he is still there managing in the Premier League, while the likes of Bryan Robson, Gordon Strachan and Roy Keane have fallen away. Bruce fully deserves his moment in the sun at Wembley and after being a three-time winner as a player, he is finally going back there in the Cup as a manager. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/steve-bruce-hull-city-manager-3228798#ixzz2veHKxqCu
Bruce is fantastic, while he may appear "old fashioned" to many his insight and wisdom is what is sadly lacking in the modern game. Up there with the best of British he certainly is. Sound and eminently sensible he has built a sleeping giant into a team to be proud of its such a pity that too many in the game still don't give him or the club the credit they deserve. So be it, if we creep in under the radar then we have the ultimate element of suprise. He should be manager of the year for everything he has done. While Phil Brown will always be a hero to us Bruce has suppassed all previous achievements by a country mile.
I agree with the piece, I've said for ages that Bruce is one of the most underrated managers in the game. The only blemish on his CV was Sunderland, as it simply didn't work out for him there. If you end the season mid table and with a Cup Final appearance, he'd be my manager of the year by a street.
Bollocks. The 'failure' was the relegation form we suffered under him, with something like about three home wins in a calendar year. His dismantling of whatt was a capable midtable team. The issue of him being a geordie- there is a statue outside the SOL of another geordie. Plenty of geordies support Sunderland. That was an excuse, look at his record. The annual second half of the season slumps didn't help either. Its good to see him doing well at present, I just hope he can keep it up for you lot, unlike what he did at Sunderland.
Either I have suddenly gained a psychic feeling of déjà vu, but I have read most of this report before somewhere. Is it just an updated version, of a report from a month or two ago. If it isn't then I had better pick a set of lottery numbers pronto....
I thought the same too. Think it's a re-hash of something already out there and edited/adapted and brought out again due to Sundays events.
