Bruce in heaven with Hull as rejuvenated boss bouncing back to big time



There were gusts of laughter blowing through the open door of Steve Bruce's office at Hull City's training ground yesterday.

Bruce needs little encouragement to mock his profession or himself, and laughed at the idea of him, a former Birmingham City manager, being employed by Aston Villa last summer, though he was interested. He then jokingly referred to Paolo Di Canio, now at Sunderland, as 'the mad Italian', and recalled happy doubts following Hull's friendly at Hartlepool last August.

Serious business: Steve Bruce is within touching distance of the Premier League

'I was driving away thinking, "Jesus",' Bruce guffaws. 'We drew 1-1. I was thinking, "There's work to be done". But we brought in a few players, got off to a decent start and played some great stuff.'

Beat relegated Bristol City and Hull will be nine points ahead of third-placed Watford in the Championship. Watford have three games to play.

By Saturday evening Hull City could once more be a Premier League club and Bruce, 52, a Premier League manager again. For all the laughter, that is a serious achievement; and Bruce is serious about his reputation.

It suffered at Sunderland, his last post. He was into his third season there when he was dismissed. 'When you get sacked everybody thinks, "He's a football manager, he'll get lots of money",' Bruce says. 'But you still get sacked, which for me is a slur, it degrades you, you feel as if you're not capable of doing your job. So it hurt.'

It was not the only slur Bruce felt. He says he was portrayed as a dinosaur, old school and not in a good way. He points at the computer screen on his desk and adds: 'It was said I was not internet-friendly and how could I be a Premier League manager?

Slur: Bruce objects to his old-school tag

Setback: Hull's promotion charge was halted by defeat at Wolves

'I don't trawl the internet, I don't profess to be like that. But I can send an email and we have all sorts of sports science here. And man-management far outweighs sports science. We have six of our backroom staff into sports science and it's vital. But is Sir Alex Ferguson old school? Arsene Wenger, David Moyes? You can get tarred with that tag. Last summer the young coach became fashionable.

Ten years ago if you were a young English manager you had to take a team into the Premier League, you rarely got given one. It's changing, but those sorts of slurs are an insult. I don't want to "do" emails, "do" Twitter. But I can still get on the internet.'

Ten years ago Bruce was at Birmingham, having taken them into the Premier League. He thinks taking Hull back to the top flight they departed in financial straits in 2010 'would rank right up there', adding: 'Nobody gave us a chance and when you see some of the big clubs - Leicester, Derby, Wolves, Blackburn - to have Hull go up would be terrific. When teams come down they can get lost. When Hull went up it was great but financially they were a mess. There have to be some foundations laid.'

Bruce gratefully acknowledges Hull's saviours, the Allam family, and adds that while he considers it part of his job to knock on a chairman's door, he will go along with prudence if promotion comes. The Allams, refugees from Egypt's Six-Day War in 1967, have pumped an estimated £60million into Hull since stepping in three years ago. Prudence depends on perspective.



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In discussions last May, Bruce got to know Assem Allam, who he refers to as 'the old man'. Bruce thought of him while covering the Champions League final for BBC Radio 5: 'Do I really want to be sitting beside Alan Green?' Another laugh.

'Dr Allam stopped the club from going into administration. The place was on its knees, millions in debt. But even if he said, "There's £100m if you can guarantee we'll stay up" . . . well, you've got a better chance but you start looking at players for around £15m. The only way they're going to come to Hull is if you pay extortionate wages.

'So I think we'd look to be in a situation where we'd be really strong if we went back to the Championship. I don't mean a yo-yo club, but to be like West Brom. Supporters tear their hair out if you get relegated but at least the club isn't going into Armageddon.

'And this club was very close to being another Portsmouth. Hull could have gone into oblivion.' Bruce wasn't laughing now. Neither are Portsmouth. Hull City and their manager understand where they are.



