With less than a month to go until the Premier League season begins, Total Football’s Simon Wright will be looking back at the players, teams and goals that have lit up the 20 years of what is widely regarded as the world's greatest league.
The next player featured has had mixed fortunes in management but was very successful in his playing career with Manchester United.
He was captain of the Red Devils for their first three successes in the English revolution and scored one of the most famous goals in the Premier League. Steve Bruce was a powerhouse in his day.
Name: Steve Bruce
Clubs he played for in the Premier League: Manchester United (1992-1996)
Clubs he managed in the Premier League: Birmingham City (2002-2007), Wigan Athletic (2007-2009), Sunderland (2009-2011)
Honours: FA Premier League championship winner in 1993, 1994 & 1996, FA Cup winner in 1994 & 1996, League Cup winner in 1985 & 1992, European Cup Winners Cup winner in 1991
PL Appearances: 148
Goals: 11
Steve Bruce has had a distinguished career in football, winning plenty of silverware as a player and experiencing the traditional highs and lows of club management.
Although he won’t be in the Premier League this season in the dugout, Bruce will be aiming high in his new role at Championship side, Hull City.
As a player, he was a leader, a huge presence in the early success Manchester United had in the Premier League and no Red Devil fan will ever forget those two goals to beat Sheffield Wednesday in April 1993 that sent the Theatre of Dreams into bedlam.
He was a boyhood Newcastle United fan but Steve’s football career began way back in 1979, where he went onto play over 200 times for Gillingham.
He moved to Norwich City in 1984, playing a significant role in the Canaries winning the League Cup in 1985, earning man of the match for his role in the final.
Amazingly despite his experience, Bruce was never capped by England and has often been described as one of the best defenders to not earn international recognition from the Three Lions.
Manchester beckons
By late 1987, many clubs had their eye on Steve Bruce, including Chelsea and Rangers. Manchester United emerged early favourites and eight days before Christmas 1987, Bruce made the move to Old Trafford for £825,000.
He settled in very comfortably at a more prestigious club and when Gary Pallister was brought in two years after his arrival, it began one of the most famous centre back partnerships in United’s history.
He score three goals in Alex Ferguson’s winning Cup Winners Cup side of 1991 and also experienced FA Cup and League Cup success. However, the league title continued to elude the men from Manchester.
As Bryan Robson’s latter career was wrecked by injuries, Bruce became a regular captain in the inaugural Premier League season and he had a massive role to play in a match in April 1993.
Trailing 1-0 at home to Sheffield Wednesday and in a game that United had to win, Bruce went forward as an emergency striker. His first goal came directly from a corner as the clock struck 90 minutes to peg Ferguson’s side level.
As injury time progressed, the momentum was with the home side and in the seventh minute of time added on, Pallister’s cross, flicked off Nigel Worthington and Bruce powered another directed header past the reach of Chris Woods.
The stadium erupted, Brian Kidd and Alex Ferguson raced off the bench to celebrate on the pitch and the job was done.
Aston Villa fell away in the closing weeks and the ultimate accolade was United’s. Along with Robson, Bruce went up to jointly lift the Premier League trophy on 3 May 1993, ending a drought of 26 years.
Final days as a player
Manchester United became the team to beat in season 1993-94, winning the double. In the process, Bruce was the first English captain to win the double in the 20th century.
A few injuries interrupted his final two seasons at the club but he still captained the side to another Premier League trophy in 1995-96, as Ferguson’s side clawed back a 12 point deficit to Newcastle at the halfway point.
Despite being offered the player manager role at his former club Norwich, Bruce felt he still had something, to offer as a player and now 35 knew his game time at Old Trafford was going to be limited.
He dropped down a division to play for Birmingham City in the summer of 1996 but had several disagreements with manager Trevor Francis, despite being the club captain at the time.
At the end of 1998, Steve Bruce retired from the game of football as a Sheffield United player.
He played 11 games in a player-manager capacity before deciding in November 1998, to concentrate solely in management.
He had a good goalscoring record for a central defender and although he lacked a lot of pace, his spirit and bravery couldn’t be questioned.
Back in the big time
He had spells with Sheffield United, Huddersfield Town and Crystal Palace in the Nationwide League but it was with Birmingham that Steve returned to manage in the Premier League.
Guiding them into the top division through the playoffs in 2002, Birmingham finished a creditable 13th in their first season back in the top flight for 16 years.
Tenth and 12th placed finishes followed and some big players came in during his time at St. Andrews, including the likes of Matthew Upson, Jesper Gronkjaer and Emile Heskey.
Relegation sadly followed in 2005-06 but he continued to fight on at Birmingham, winning promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt, despite a tense relationship with the board.
Disagreements over a new contract meant he resigned as Birmingham manager in November 2007 and took over at fellow Premier League strugglers, Wigan.
On a tight budget in Lancashire, he kept the Lactics up and then guided them to an excellent 11th place in 2008-09, despite having to sell his best player at the time, Wilson Palacios to Tottenham.
Whereas he did well at Birmingham and Wigan, Bruce struggled at Sunderland, where he took over in the summer of 2009.
13th and 10th place tabled results were average, especially when Darren Bent’s goals often kept the Black Cats away from a relegation battle.
He became the first Premier League managerial casualty last November, as the club slipped into the bottom three after a slow start, culminating in a 2-1 loss to Wigan at the Stadium of Light.
In May, he accepted the role as Hull City new manager, succeeding Nick Barmby at the KC Stadium.
The top flight won’t see him this season but I’m sure the Premier League hasn’t seen the last of Steve Bruce.
NEXT TIME ON PREMIER LEAGUE ICONS: He liked a ponytail and was often known as ‘Safe Hands.’ Arsenal’s greatest goalkeeper, David Seaman
By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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