Demitri_C

everyone hates blose dont they?

Bruce bitter over delayed Blues exit

New Wigan boss Steve Bruce admits his protracted move from Birmingham to the JJB Stadium has "become a bit of a laughing stock".

Bruce was due to be presented to the press last week but could not appear due to a hold-up involving the repayment of advance funds paid to Bruce by City.

The issue has now been resolved, with the former England defender admitting he had repaid some of the cash, but he remains angry at the public nature of the dispute.

"It's become a bit of a laughing stock," he conceded on Sky Sports News.

"But things in contracts should, I believe, remain private and it was unfortunate it was addressed in the media.

"It left me in an embarrassing situation and one I'm very disappointed with.

"I always knew it would get resolved but it has left a bad taste in the mouth after six years of decent service to the football club.

"It was disappointing at the 11th hour to be facing this obstacle and I'm glad it's resolved."

Bruce is sure he can match the ambition of Latics owner Dave Whelan, who paid around £3million in compensation to Blues - a figure the new boss believes should have been enough to prevent this week's behind-the-scenes financial wrangling.

"I think familiarity breeds contempt," he told Sky Sports News.

"Having been here six years and having certain promises taken away, like new contracts (it was disappointing).

"Mr Whelan came in and made it clear I was the one he wanted. Paul Jewell was obviously his first choice because he has worked with him before and I'll do my utmost to give it my best shot," said Bruce, who previously managed the club for seven weeks in 2001.

"With the chairman (Whelan) paying something like £3million compensation I would have thought that would be enough but obviously not.

"But I'm here, it's a new challenge and if I have the same success as I had at Birmingham then I'm sure Mr Whelan will be happy."

When quizzed if he was keen to add former Norwich team-mate Dave Watson and Birmingham caretaker manager Erick Black to his staff, Bruce replied: "There is always going to be speculation. Dave Watson is a big friend of mine and he worked with me at Birmingham for a while, so we'll see."

"I'm hoping that I can make some additions to the backroom staff by the end of the week.

"Eric Black is still in work at Birmingham, but I'm hoping to bring in a couple of new faces."

Bruce added: "I was extremely impressed with the way they went about their job on Saturday (in their 2-0 loss to Arsenal). I know it's going to be difficult but my job is to try and give the whole place a lift. I'm very confident of staying in the Premier League."

Bruce also insisted he was looking forward to linking up once again with two former charges - Emile Heskey and Mario Melchiot.

There were rumours Bruce and Melchiot did not get on during their time together and St Andrews but he insisted that was not a concern.

"I'm looking forward to working with the whole squad. Emile did fantastically well for us at Birmingham, but when we got relegated you have to make a decision on who goes and Emile was one.

"I've just spoken to Mario and it's never been an issue, I wanted to clear that up with him. When you get relegated there is going to be disappointed people and you have to make changes and that's what happened. There is no bad blood between us and I'm looking forward to working with him."

small fry pub team

give them a pig sty to wrestle in werewolf and yeung

so looks liek the old firm game is back, but in the premiership. MOn vs mcclesih or whatever his name is

image rights?!?

what the chuff for?

spokespotato for the mr potato head company?!?

i think fistface bought out some potato head crisps

i think capello should be appointed but will end up with micky adams

apparently tehy ahve now been rejected by scolari. tehy need to stop now they really are making them look like fools

in the star today wooly wrote

"mcclaren will now either go to a mediocre club or be someones assistant"

so yeh blose are perfect

capello blames negative football though so be warned.

but tehn again nothing could be worse than last nights shite

why what did werewolf say?

McClarens England beat them 4-0!

the same greece that beat france, czech republic and the hots twice? :?

no one can say anything aaginst greece they were underdpgs and beat big teams not crappy little ones. greece dont ahve to prove anything again as what they acheived is highly unlikely to be done again!

my mate put a pound on them and won £100 last time!

capello would be great, he is a free agent too. does he speak english though?

i think its fair to say english coaches are out of teh question as most are not good enough.

mourinho for me would be best but capello would be good too

mourinho for me wouldbe the perfect choice. if i was barwick i would say what ever it costs get mourinho

greece :oops: :oops:

maybe sir alex feruson will take them over, or even better how about rijkarrd even.

they really are morons arent they. lippi, that is hilarous

Birmingham City face tough task to replace BruceNov 20 2007

By Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

BIRMINGHAM City are finding the going tough as they sift through potential candidates to replace Steve Bruce as manager.

Alex McLeish has joined Paul Jewell and Martin Jol in making it known that they are not interested in the post.

Eric Black has been told he will not be allowed to leave Blues and follow Bruce to Wigan as Blues board weigh up whether to offer him the job full-time. And Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp has been considered by Blues, but will not walk out on Pompey again.

Black is effectively Blues caretaker boss and, according to Wigan owner Dave Whelan, will eventually end up at the JJB Stadium.

"We will get him in the end," was Whelan's bullish statement about Bruce's erstwhile No.2.

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But Blues are keeping him to his contract as they want a semblance of continuity for at least three weeks, and perhaps beyond. But if they don't decide to give him the job permanently, he would effectively be a lame duck manager.

And he would have control of a side who are fighting a relegation battle against a team he would end up joining.

When Blues waited for Bruce to sort out his gardening leave wrangle with Crystal Palace six years ago, Mick Mills and Jim Barron were placed in temporary charge for eight weeks.

Everyone knew that they were keeping the dugout warm for Bruce and although their results were creditable - five wins, three defeats, four draws - the situation was highly unsatisfactory.

As Black waits for a definitive answer to his fate - and he has the support of the players - Blues board will continue to assess various options.

McLeish's future was cast into doubt immediately after Scotland failed to qualify for Euro 2008 on Saturday.

The SFA want to tie him to a long-term contract and although it seems he could return to club football, it is not going to be with Blues.

Jewell has also distanced himself, and Jol wants to take a break from football before getting back on the treadmill.

Blues, flush with £3million compensation for Bruce, are prepared to offer a lucrative salary and have apparently been putting feelers out for some of the biggest names in Europe.

However, the board also have to be realistic and accept that Blues are hardly a top tier Premier League outfit and any big name would want significant transfer funds as well as lucrative personal terms.

Also, they would seek assurances about their position should Carson Yeung push through his buyout.

Chris Coleman's position at Real Sociedad could be of interest.

Coleman offered to resign after the president who appointed him, Maria de la Pena, quit, but he was told to carry on and await the board elections on January 3.

Others who could be under consideration are the unattached trio of Glenn Hoddle, Graeme Souness and Joe Royle.

Souness let it be known to the board that he was interested before, when he looked on shaky ground at Blackburn Rovers and Bruce was targeted by Newcastle United - only

to end up in the North East himself. Royle was interviewed and was a standby if Bruce had not been able to free himself from Palace.

Mark Hughes has long been admired by co-owner David Sullivan, and any interest there now would be highly ironic given the nature of Mark Bowen's spat with Bruce that led to him joining Hughes at Ewood Park, and Robbie Savage's acrimonious departure.

But Hughes would be a long-shot for Blues.

Mick McCarthy, in previous years, has been highly thought of by Blues and of the new breed of young managers, Adrian Boothroyd and Paul Ince, plus Gary Johnson, who has taken Bristol City from League One to the forefront of the Championship promotion race, could be outsiders.

David O'Leary has always charmed the Blues owners but in the unlikely event that they made a move for the ex-Villa boss, it would go down like a lead balloon.

Gary McAllister, who is also free from commitments, has been touted but it not thought to be in the frame.

What a might shortlist of managers!

poor bastards if tahts the best they can get i feel sorry for them...yeah right

hitchings has just said wigan are bigger than blose, that really is embarassing if you are getting called that

what about that muppet blsoe fan with teh squeeky voice i think he drives cabs or something. surely he isa big enough lsoer to take the job

i read today that bilic the croatian manager wants to come to england. possible to blose?

i hope not

i drink diet coke but apparently that givesyou cancer.

so you have th choice get fat from drinking coke, and rotten teeth.

or drink diet and get cancer hmm.

i think i will stick with ribenia light :winkold:

what about omar that porn star? he would fit in perfect with sullivan

HONH KONG PHOOEY?

on a serious note maybe dowie, or bristol city manager?

imagine if o'leary got it, the first amn to be ahted by bothe set of supporterS!

P Jewel 5/1

G McAllister 5/1

C Coleman 6/1

E Black 7/1

M Jol 8/1

G Souness 8/1

G Hoddle 14/1

P Reid 16/1

A McLeish 16/1

what a mighty list of candidates i voted ann summers, but should we not have added mrs potato head surely she will a candidate of pac man?

Now this isn't aimed at anyone in particular...............

thing is, what do you use a phone for? Thats what you have to ask yourself

Me I use a phone for making phone calls, texting people, surfing the net and a small amount of calender type organisation

Do I listen to music on it? nope, thats what my i-pod is for. The i-phones capacity isn't nearly large enough to cope with my music

The camera in a phone for me has always been an irrelevance, not found a decent one yet. I want to take photos I use a proper camera

Now thats not to say I don't want an i-phone but I will be waiting until the next gen comes out with its rumoured improved net capabilities, seeing if the memory capacity improves dramatically and it might just save me carrying around both implements but until then I can't see the point

this exactly what i said in this first page i dont need the i phone. i have an ipod for my tunes a camera for pics so all it really is is fancy gadget that people want to show off.

its not worth the money your spending at present your better off waiting to these crooks like o2 lower their prices.

they know they can rip people off because people are stupid (no offence) and will pay the money

i got n95 does what i want. i am happy with it.

would suggest getting one of them ahead of the rip off i-phone