Steve Bruce

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Bruce was also known for his unusually high goalscoring rate for a centre-back, resulting from a combination of his ability to powerfully head the ball and his effectiveness in taking penalty kicks. Although lacking poise and grace, and often criticised for his lack of pace, his bravery and willingness to take knocks from opposition players made him the "heart" of the defence during his time with Manchester United. He was well known for continuing to play even when injured, including returning to the United team at short notice in 1992 even though he was awaiting an operation on a hernia. His indomitable spirit and motivational abilities were deemed vital to the United team, and Alex Ferguson has commented on his "determination and heart".

Huddersfield were early promotion contenders in the 1999–2000 season, winning six consecutive matches to rise to third place in the First Division table by late November, but lost form and failed to reach the play-offs. The team continued to struggle at the start of the 2000–01 season, gaining just six points from 11 matches, and Bruce was sacked in October 2000. From November 1999 until his departure, Bruce was on the club's board of directors. He then became involved in a dispute with Rubery, who accused him of "wasting" £3 million on players and having "an ego to feed". Although he was linked with the manager's job at Queens Park Rangers, Bruce remained out of the game until he was appointed manager of Wigan Athletic in April 2001. The team reached the Second Division play-offs but lost in the semi-finals, and Bruce almost immediately left the club, where he had been in charge for less than two months, to take over as manager of Crystal Palace.

Although his new club began the 2001–02 season strongly, topping the First Division table and looking well placed for regaining the Premier League place that it had last held in the 1997–98 season, Bruce tendered his resignation less than three months into the season in order to return to Birmingham City as manager. Although he was initially prevented from doing so by an injunction taken out by Crystal Palace, he was eventually allowed to join the Midlands-based club after a compensation package was agreed. By now he had acquired a reputation as a manager who rarely held down a job for a significant length of time.

The following season began well for Birmingham, who climbed as high as fourth in the table, but the team's fortunes declined and they could only finish in tenth place at the end of the season. Despite this disappointment, Bruce signed a new contract in June 2004 designed to keep him at St Andrew's for a further five years, but just two months later Freddy Shepherd, chairman of Newcastle United, was reported to have made Bruce his main target in the search for a new manager to replace Bobby Robson. The club was reportedly prepared to pay Birmingham more than £3 million in compensation, and Bruce himself was said to be keen to take over at St James' Park, but he ultimately remained at Birmingham. He stated that "as far as I'm concerned, I've got a job to do at and I'm determined to get on with it", but it was also reported that Newcastle would have been required to pay a much larger compensation fee or face legal action had he been persuaded to switch clubs. Initial expectations were high for the 2004–05 season, but the club once again finished in a mid-table position, ending the season in 12th place.

Following the sacking of Graeme Souness as Newcastle manager in February 2006, Bruce was again linked with the job, which ultimately went to Glenn Roeder. By this stage of the 2005–06 season, Birmingham were struggling in the league, and on 21 March 2006 were beaten 7–0 at home by Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Some supporters of the club began to call for his resignation, but Bruce insisted that he would fight on as manager. The team managed to climb out of the relegation zone for the first time in nearly six months after a win over Bolton Wanderers in early April 2006. However, they were soon overtaken by Portsmouth, whose victory over Wigan Athletic on 29 April left Birmingham mathematically unable to match their points total and therefore relegated.

Although Bruce had the largest transfer budget in the division made available to him, Birmingham made a slow start to the 2006–07 season in the EFL Championship and, after a 1–0 defeat at home to Norwich City, the team's fifth consecutive match without a win, there were calls from fans and local journalists for the manager to be sacked. Bruce publicly accepted responsibility for the team's poor run and admitted that he feared for his job, but the team responded with a 1–0 victory over Derby County, and then recorded a further five consecutive league victories to be joint leaders of the league table by late November. On 29 April 2007, Birmingham secured promotion to the Premier League, with one match to play, by virtue of Derby County's 2–0 defeat at Crystal Palace. Chairman David Gold told the press "There have been some dark days but Steve has been outstanding. He was determined to bounce back. He has rebuilt the team and now we are all back where we want to be."

On 21 November, during a press conference which was intended to formally present Bruce as the new manager of Wigan, the club's chief executive Brenda Spencer informed the media that the deal had been put on hold by "unknown issues" between Bruce and Birmingham City, reported to centre on the advance payment of the image rights element of Bruce's contract at St Andrew's. On 23 November 2007 Wigan announced that Bruce had now signed his contract and would officially rejoin the Latics. His first game in charge was a 1–1 home draw with Manchester City on 1 December 2007. Wigan spent the remainder of the season struggling against relegation, but the club secured Premier League survival with victory over Aston Villa in the penultimate game of the season. In September 2008, Bruce was once again linked with the manager's job at Newcastle United following the departure of Kevin Keegan.

Bruce led Wigan to an 11th-place finish in the 2008–09 season, despite the loss of midfielder Wilson Palacios to Tottenham Hotspur in the January transfer window.

Bruce made wholesale changes to Sunderland's squad, signing 13 players and selling 15 in his first 18 months at the club. On 25 February 2011, Bruce signed an extension to his contract, keeping him at Sunderland until 2014, with chairman Niall Quinn stating that "In only 18 months he has reshaped our squad beyond recognition, bringing in some fantastically talented players. He embodies the ethos of teamwork and the importance of camaraderie in creating a wonderful spirit of togetherness amongst the players and staff".

Bruce was dismissed as manager on 30 November 2011, with Sunderland in 16th position following a poor run of form which culminated with a 2–1 home defeat to bottom club Wigan four days earlier. He later linked his dismissal from the managerial post with the fact that he is a fan of Newcastle United, Sunderland's bitter rivals.

In March 2015, Bruce signed a three-year contract extension. A run of poor form left Hull near the bottom of the table going into the final game of the 2014–15 season and needing to defeat Bruce's former club Manchester United to stand any chance of avoiding relegation. They could only manage a 0–0 draw and were relegated to the Championship. The poor performances of a number of players signed by Bruce, including club record signing Abel Hernández, were identified as key factors in the club's failure to remain in the Premier League.

In January 2016, Bruce won the Championship Manager of the Month after leading Hull to four victories; Hernández, who scored six times, got the players' equivalent. Hull finished the season in fourth, qualifying for the play-offs, where they defeated Derby County in the semi-finals. In the final on 28 May, a 25-yard goal from Mohamed Diamé against Sheffield Wednesday won Hull promotion to the Premier League for the second time during Bruce's spell in charge. Bruce said after the game that he had considered resignation following the team's relegation, and would hold talks with the prospective new owners to be assured of his future. In July 2016, with his future at Hull seemingly still uncertain, he was interviewed by officials of The Football Association concerning the vacant position of manager of England. Three days later, Bruce met with Hull City officials and announced his resignation later that day amid claims he became frustrated by a lack of transfer activity at the club.

In his first season in charge, Newcastle were tipped for relegation by some pundits but finished 13th, as the campaign was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The following season, almost entirely played behind closed doors due to the ongoing pandemic, saw Bruce guide the club to 12th. In October 2021, the club was bought for £300 million by a consortium led by the Saudi Arabian government's sovereign wealth fund. With the team close to the bottom of the Premier League, Bruce was widely expected to be dismissed from his job by the new owners, but remained in charge and was recognised by the League Managers Association as only the 34th manager in the modern era of English football to have taken charge for 1,000 competitive matches. Newcastle lost that match 3–2 to Tottenham Hotspur at St James' Park on 17 October 2021, and some Newcastle supporters called for Bruce to be removed from his post during and after the game. Bruce left Newcastle by mutual consent three days later on 20 October 2021, after receiving a reported £8 million payout for the remainder of his contract. He had a 27.4% win percentage from 84 league games at Newcastle, the 9th best compared to previous Newcastle managers who had been in charge of at least 20 matches in the Premier League era.