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PLAYING CAREER Steve Bruce began his footballing career with Gillingham in Kent on leaving school in the summer of 1977. He remained at Gillingham until 1983 when he was transferred to Norwich City . He suffered the misfortune of scoring an own goal on his debut, but soon settled in to become a rock in the Canaries' defence. In 1985 Norwich were relegated from the top flight but the blow was cushioned by a win over Sunderland in the League Cup final. Norwich won promotion at the first time of asking but Bruce was transferred to Manchester United for £850,000 in December 1987 just before his 27th birthday. Steve Bruce made his Manchester United debut in a game against Portsmouth on 19th December 1987 and went on to score 51 goals in more than 300 appearances for Manchester United in eight and a half years. He helped them win three Premiership titles ( 1993 , 1994 and 1996 ), two FA Cup s ( 1990 and 1994 ), one League Cup and one Cup Winners' Cup ( 1991 ). He took over from Bryan Robson as club captain in 1991 and got the position full time when Robson left three years later. As captain he helped United to the league title in 1993 - scoring two late goals against Sheffield Wednesday at Old Trafford - and again in 1994 , forming a formidable partnership with Gary Pallister at the heart of a defence that lost only four league matches all season. That same year he led United to FA Cup glory against Chelsea and to the League Cup final against Aston Villa . The following season he once once again ever present at the heart of the United back line, but was unable to add any medals to his collection as United were pipped to the Premiership title by Blackburn Rovers and defeated in the FA Cup final by Everton . The following season, which was to be his last at Old Trafford, more than compensated for a barren previous campaign. Bruce once again was a lynch-pin at he heart of a United defence that managed to overhaul a 12 point deficit to Newcastle United at Christmas to lift the Premiership trophy on the last day of the season. However, a week later Bruce was left out of Manchester United's squad for the 1996 FA Cup final against Liverpool. Despite the fact that Bruce was club captain, he insisted that match winner Eric Cantona lifted the trophy at Wembley in an almost unprecedented show of professionalism. Within two weeks however he had joined Birmingham City on a free transfer. In two seasons at Birmingham, Bruce was a regular first team player and continued to perform excellently but was unable to get them promoted to the Premiership. MANAGERIAL CAREER At the end of the 1997-98 season Bruce became player manager of Sheffield United , a job which he held for just one season before beginning an 18-month spell as Huddersfield manager. For the final two months of the 2000-01 season he was Wigan Athletic manager before being lured to Crystal Palace where he spent six months before being enticed back to Birmingham City as replacement for Trevor Francis . When he took over at Birmingham, they were mid table in Division One and the realistic target for the 2001-02 season was to consolidate rather than push for promotion. But he guided them into the playoffs and they beat Norwich City on penalties in the final to end a 16-year absence from the top division. In 2002-03 , Birmingham finished 13th in the Premiership and the following season climbed to 10th place in the final table. In 2004-05 , they finished in 12th place. In August 2004 Bruce was linked with the manager's job at Newcastle but he turned it down and chose to stay at Birmingham for at least another three seasons and he continues to manage Birmingham in a calm and positive manner and seems able to attract excellent players to the club as it seeks to move up another rung in the Premiership pecking order and perhaps challenge for European qualification. Following the sacking of Graeme Souness as Newcastle manager on 2nd February 2006, Bruce was again being mentioned as a possibility for the job, likely due to his childhood roots in Northumberland and affinity for the club as a youth: "I have always been a Newcastle lad and when I was a kid, I crawled under the turnstiles to get in to try and save a bob or whatever it was," Bruce told Sky Sports News on 3rd February 2006. "They were my team, I went to support them as a boy and being a Geordie it's in-bred in you, you follow the club still the same today." However, he then said "At the moment, I am just concentrating on Birmingham as I have got a big job here, with the huge task of keeping us in the Premier League and that is all I am focusing on at the moment." On 21 March 2006 , Birmingham City were beaten 7-0 at home by Liverpool in the FA Cup Quarter Finals Despite mass calls for his resignation by supporters and fans of the club, Bruce insisted that he would fight on as manager [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/birmingham_city/4831306.stm . Following a 0-3 defeat at former club, Manchester United, Bruce's side managed a highly creditable 0-0 draw with Chelsea, followed by a 1-0 home win against Bolton Wanderers, which lifted Birmingham out of the relegation zone. |
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