Newcastle manager Steve Bruce has a deep regret for walking out on Crystal Palace in 2001 to join Birmingham City, according to his son Alex.
Bruce took charge of the Eagles in April 2001, and although his new club topped the Championship table and looked likely to return to the Premier League at the start of the 2001/02 season, he decided to resign to make the move to Birmingham.
Despite winning two promotions with the Blues in a successful six-year managerial spell, the 59-year-old has regrets even to this day at leaving Palace prematurely, according to his son Alex - who currently plays for Kilmarnock.
Speaking to Talksport (via HITC) alongside Palace chairman Simon Jordan, Alex said: "They were good times. Dad went to Palace a number of years ago now. You had a very good team. I think you were top of Championship for a while. I was actually speaking to him (Bruce Sr) this morning.
"It's one of his biggest regrets in football really. He walked away, he'll admit himself, probably, too early. He regrets it, it's a big regret of his. He ended up going to Birmingham and had a bit of success there but he had a good time at Palace on the whole."
Regrets all around, then. But Steve Bruce must look ahead from the past and instead focus on the present as he has enjoyed a fairly successful 2019/20 with Newcastle thus far.
The Magpies sit in 13th place in the Premier League table, seven points above the bottom three. With fixtures against the likes of Burnley, Southampton and Bournemouth all coming up, they will look to push toward a top half finish.
Before any of those games though, Bruce takes on the side he regrets leaving; his team will face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon. With their last meeting a 1-0 win at St James' Park, the Toon will be hopeful another victory could be on the cards.
Source :
90min
