Football

Steve Bruce reveals he twice came close to taking charge at Wolves


Steve Bruce is talking tracksuits. There was the garish number – “very blingy”, says Newcastle’s manager – emblazoned with a map of Africa his former Sunderland forward Asamoah Gyan gave him as a present, and then there is the Wolves two-piece.

While Bruce jokes about pulling on Gyan’s gift to walk his dog, he feels he could quite possibly have been wearing an official Wolves tracksuit at St James’ Park on Sunday afternoon. On two separate occasions before Nuno Espírito Santo set about transforming Old Gold fortunes, Bruce came close – once very close – to taking over at Molineux.

“I thought I had the Wolves job when Mick McCarthy left [in 2012],” he says. “I’d shaken hands with the Wolves owner, Steve Morgan. I thought I was going. The paperwork was done, I just had to sign it but he changed his mind overnight and gave it to Terry Connor.”

After being sacked by Sunderland, Bruce was unemployed and, encouraged by Morgan’s handshake, cracked open the champagne. “It was 23 February, my wedding anniversary, and I took my wife to see War Horse thinking we’d got the job. We had a glass of champagne but then Steve rang at midnight to say: ‘I’ve changed my mind, Terry Connor’s galvanised the training ground.’”

Four years later Bruce had just left Hull when Wolves called once more. “I came close again. I went to meet them in London. It was attractive, the new Chinese people were just taking over. We had a conversation but they gave it to Walter Zenga and I ended up going to Aston Villa.

“So, for me, Wolves is one of those what-might-have-beens. The twists and turns are amazing; if somebody had told me six months ago I’d become manager of Newcastle I wouldn’t have thought it possible.”

Until he met Allan Saint-Maximin, Bruce also believed he would never meet a player possessing a bigger, more vibrant, wardrobe than Gyan, but the winger’s arrival from Nice has confounded that assumption.

“He’s 22 and he’s got more outfits than I’ve seen,” Bruce says. “Allan’s different and I’m sure, at times, he’s going to cause me problems but, deep down, he’s a decent kid.

“Allan likes an earring. He gives me £100 in fines every other day when he forgets to take it out. I’ve got a few quid off him already but the players like him. He’s daft, off the wall and likable.”

At Nice, Saint-Maximin frequently drove his manager, Patrick Vieira, to distraction but, so far at least, Bruce is more amused by the comparisons with a certain Ghana striker. “Asamoah Gyan was all bling and he became fed up with me always taking money off him in fines,” he says. “So he brought me this tracksuit with a map of Africa on it in green and yellow and gold. I wear it to walk the dog but Allan’s into Louis Vuitton, he’s got the matching gear on every day.”

He hopes the French winger’s devastating pace and electrifying improvisational skills will not only destabilise Wolves but steer Newcastle clear of relegation waters. “Allan’s crucial,” Bruce says. “He’s the one player we can rely on to do something different. Against Manchester United he beat four markers within 10 yards. He can cause anybody problems but we have to give him freedom to play to his strengths.”

Do not bet against Saint-Maximin returning the compliment by buying his manager some new Louis Vuitton leisurewear.



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