Profile of Steve Bruce on Famous Like Me

Stephen Roger Bruce, (born December 31, 1960), is a British football (soccer) manager. He is currently the manager of Birmingham City F.C.. As a player Bruce started as a midfielder but translated into a powerful and dependable centre-back who many described as the best player of the 80s and 90s never to appear for England. He has been occasionally mocked for a superficial resemblance to character actor Bernard Cribbins.

Steve Bruce was born in Hexham, Northumberland, on 31st December 1960 but 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. 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 scored 51 goals in more than 300 appearances for Manchester United in eight and a half years. He helped them win three Premiership titles, two FA Cups, one League Cup and one Cup Winners' Cup. He took over from Bryan Robson as club captain in 1991 and got the position full time when Robson left three years later. But he was left out of Manchester United's squad for the 1996 FA Cup final and within two weeks 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. At the end of the 1997-98 season he 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 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.

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