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Steve Bruce
Personal information
\n Bruce in 2011
Full name	\nStephen Roger Bruce^[1]
Date of birth	\n (1960-12-31) 31 December 1960 (age 64)^[1]
Place of birth	\nCorbridge, England
Height	\n6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)^[2]
Position(s)	\nCentre-back^[1]
Team information
Current team	\nBlackpool (head coach)
Youth career
1977\u20131979	\nGillingham
Senior career\"
Years	\nTeam	\nApps	\n(Gls)
1979\u20131984	\nGillingham	\n205	\n(29)
1984\u20131987	\nNorwich City	\n141	\n(14)
1987\u20131996	\nManchester United	\n309	\n(36)
1996\u20131998	\nBirmingham City	\n72	\n(2)
1998\u20131999	\nSheffield United	\n10	\n(0)
Total	\n	\n737	\n(81)
International career
1979\u20131980	\nEngland Youth	\n8	\n(1)
1987	\nEngland B	\n1	\n(0)
Managerial career
1998\u20131999	\nSheffield United
1999\u20132000	\nHuddersfield Town
2001	\nWigan Athletic
2001	\nCrystal Palace
2001\u20132007	\nBirmingham City
2007\u20132009	\nWigan Athletic
2009\u20132011	\nSunderland
2012\u20132016	\nHull City
2016\u20132018	\nAston Villa
2019	\nSheffield Wednesday
2019\u20132021	\nNewcastle United
2022	\nWest Bromwich Albion
2024\u2013	\nBlackpool
\n\"Club domestic league appearances and goals

Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional football manager and former player who was a centre-back in a twenty-year playing career. He is currently the head coach of EFL League One club Blackpool.\n

Born in Corbridge, Northumberland, Bruce was a promising schoolboy footballer but was rejected by several professional clubs. He was on the verge of quitting the game altogether when he was offered a trial with Gillingham. He was offered an apprenticeship and went on to play more than 200 games for the club before joining Norwich City in 1984, winning the League Cup in 1985. In 1987, he moved to Manchester United, with whom he achieved great success, winning twelve trophies including three Premier League titles, three FA Cups, one League Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup. He also became the first English player of the 20th century to captain a team to the Double. Despite his success on the field, he was never selected to play for the England national team. Commentators and contemporaries have described him as one of the best English players of the 1980s and 1990s never to play for his country at full international level.\n

Bruce began his managerial career with Sheffield United, and spent short periods of time managing Huddersfield Town, Wigan Athletic and Crystal Palace before joining Birmingham City in 2001. He twice led Birmingham to promotion to the Premier League during his tenure of nearly six years, but resigned in 2007 to begin a second spell as manager of Wigan. At the end of the 2008\u201309 season, he resigned to take over as manager of Sunderland, a post he held until he was dismissed in November 2011. Seven months later, he was appointed manager of Hull City and led the club to two promotions to the Premier League, as well as the 2014 FA Cup Final, before leaving in July 2016. He took over at Aston Villa four months later but was dismissed in October 2018. He became manager of Sheffield Wednesday in February 2019, and left in July that year to take over at Newcastle United. He managed the club through the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping them in the Premier League, and left in November 2021 following the club's takeover by the Public Investment Fund. His final match in charge was his 1,000th in club management. In February 2022, Bruce took over as manager of West Bromwich Albion but was dismissed in October of the same year due to a poor start to the 2022\u201323 season. He was appointed head coach of Blackpool in September 2024.\n

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Club\n	Season\n	League\n	FA Cup\n	League Cup\n	Europe\n	Other\n	Total\n
Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals\n
Gillingham\n	1979\u201380^[17]\n	Third Division\n	40	6	0	0	4	2	\u2014	\u2014	44	8\n
1980\u201381^[209]\n	Third Division\n	41	4	1	0	4	3	\u2014	\u2014	46	7\n
1981\u201382^[210]\n	Third Division\n	45	6	5	1	2	0	\u2014	3^[a]	1	55	8\n
1982\u201383^[211]\n	Third Division\n	39	7	2	0	5	1	\u2014	\u2014	46	8\n
1983\u201384^[212]\n	Third Division\n	40	6	6	1	0	0	\u2014	0	0	46	7\n
Total\n	205	29	14	2	15	6	\u2014	3	1	237	38\n
Norwich City\n	1984\u201385^[213]\n	First Division\n	39	1	5	1	9	3	\u2014	\u2014	53	5\n
1985\u201386^[214]\n	Second Division\n	42	8	1	0	4	2	\u2014	6^[b]	0	53	10\n
1986\u201387^[215]\n	First Division\n	41	3	3	0	4	0	\u2014	4^[c]	0	52	3\n
1987\u201388^[216]\n	First Division\n	19	2	\u2014	3	1	\u2014	\u2014	22	3\n
Total\n	141	14	9	1	20	6	\u2014	10	0	180	21\n
Manchester United\n	1987\u201388^[44]\n	First Division\n	21	2	3	0	\u2014	\u2014	\u2014	24	2\n
1988\u201389^[44]\n	First Division\n	38	2	7	1	3	1	\u2014	3^[d]	1	51	5\n
1989\u201390^[44]\n	First Division\n	34	3	7	0	2	0	\u2014	\u2014	43	3\n
1990\u201391^[44]\n	First Division\n	31	13	3	0	7	2	8^[e]	4	1^[f]	0	50	19\n
1991\u201392^[44]\n	First Division\n	37	5	1	0	7	1	5^[g]	0	\u2014	50	6\n
1992\u201393^[44]\n	Premier League\n	42	5	3	0	3	0	2^[h]	0	\u2014	50	5\n
1993\u201394^[44]\n	Premier League\n	41	3	7	0	9	2	4^[i]	2	1^[f]	0	62	7\n
1994\u201395^[44]\n	Premier League\n	35	2	5	2	1	0	6^[i]	0	1^[f]	0	48	4\n
1995\u201396^[44]\n	Premier League\n	30	1	5	0	2	0	2^[h]	0	\u2014	39	1\n
Total\n	309	36	41	3	34	6	27	6	6	1	417	52\n
Birmingham City\n	1996\u201397^[217]\n	First Division\n	32	0	3	1	4	0	\u2014	\u2014	39	1\n
1997\u201398^[218]\n	First Division\n	40	2	3	0	2	0	\u2014	\u2014	45	2\n
Total\n	72	2	6	1	6	0	\u2014	\u2014	84	3\n
Sheffield United\n	1998\u201399^[82]\n	First Division\n	10	0	0	0	1	0	\u2014	\u2014	11	0\n
Career total\n	737	81	70	7	76	18	27	6	19	2	929	114\n

Team\n	From\n	To\n	Record\n	Ref.\n
P	W	D	L	Win %\n
Sheffield United\n	2 July 1998\n	17 May 1999\n	55\n	22\n	15\n	18\n	040.0\n	^[81]\n
Huddersfield Town\n	24 May 1999\n	16 October 2000\n	66\n	25\n	16\n	25\n	037.9\n	^[81]\n
Wigan Athletic\n	4 April 2001\n	29 May 2001\n	8\n	3\n	2\n	3\n	037.5\n	^[81]\n
Crystal Palace\n	31 May 2001\n	2 November 2001\n	18\n	11\n	2\n	5\n	061.1\n	^[81]\n
Birmingham City\n	12 December 2001\n	23 November 2007\n	269\n	100\n	69\n	100\n	037.2\n	^[137]^[219]\n
Wigan Athletic\n	26 November 2007\n	3 June 2009\n	68\n	23\n	17\n	28\n	033.8\n	^[81]\n
Sunderland\n	3 June 2009\n	30 November 2011\n	98\n	29\n	28\n	41\n	029.6\n	^[81]\n
Hull City\n	8 June 2012\n	22 July 2016\n	201\n	82\n	44\n	75\n	040.8\n	^[81]^[151]\n
Aston Villa\n	12 October 2016\n	3 October 2018\n	102\n	46\n	25\n	31\n	045.1\n	^[81]\n
Sheffield Wednesday\n	1 February 2019\n	15 July 2019\n	18\n	7\n	8\n	3\n	038.9\n	^[81]\n
Newcastle United\n	17 July 2019\n	20 October 2021\n	97\n	28\n	28\n	41\n	028.9\n	^[81]\n
West Bromwich Albion\n	3 February 2022\n	10 October 2022\n	32\n	8\n	12\n	12\n	025.0\n	^[81]\n
Blackpool\n	3 September 2024\n	Present\n	33\n	10\n	15\n	8\n	030.3\n	^[220]\n
Total\n	1,064\n	393\n	281\n	390\n	036.9\n	\n

Early life

Playing career

Gillingham

Norwich City

Manchester United

Later playing career

Style of play

Managerial career

Early managerial career

Birmingham City

Wigan Athletic

Sunderland

Hull City

Aston Villa

Sheffield Wednesday

Newcastle United

West Bromwich Albion

Blackpool

Life outside football

Personal life

Other activities

Playing statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Manager

References

External links

Steve Bruce

Steve Bruce

Media collections