Fire burns for Bruce in pursuit of fifth Prem promotion
STEVE Bruce admits personal pride has fired him up for Saturday’s playoff final as he desperately craves a return to the Premier League.
The Villa boss has played and managed for over 40 years with the majority of his time coming in the top flight.
And ahead of the weekend’s Wembley showpiece, Bruce said: “I’ve been in football for so long but the one thing you look to do is keep succeeding.
“It’s why we’re in it. It’s why I’ve been in it over 900 games as a manager and over 900 as a player, which is a lot of Saturdays.
“It would be great to get this club back in the Premier League, where we want to be and where the club demands.
“But we’ve seen with many clubs that they don’t find it easy when they drop into this division. So you try to be positive and my aim is to be in the big league.
“We’re not there yet but I’ll keep trying to take us there and, achievement-wise, it will be up there with anything I’ve done, that’s for sure.”
Bruce has managed at Blues, Wigan, Sunderland and Hull in the Premier League but believes the chance to manage a club like Villa is even more exciting.
He certainly feels there is unfinished business in the top tier after walking out on Hull following pro- motion. If Villa are successful on Saturday, Bruce will break his own record of promotions out of the Championship, which currently stands at four.
“Can I make it five? Let’s hope so,” he said. “The one thing about management is that you get better the longer you’re in it. So I will use all my experience to help. But the important thing is for the players to go out and perform.
“I feel we have enough leaders who can handle the occasion.”
Bruce has warned, however, that has troops must take this ‘wonderful opportunity’ – otherwise the club faces a tighter recruitment budget if they fail.
Villa spent just £2.5million on transfers this season and raised around £18million from summer sales.
The manager also relied heavily on loan signings with Sam Johnstone, Robert Snodgrass, Josh Onomah, Lewis Grabban and Axel Tuanzebe all joining until the end of the season.
Given the financial restrictions this term, Bruce said in the build-up to Saturday’s play-off final with Fulham, that winning promotion would be as satisfying as any of his other four conquests.
But he also explained that it would be even tougher for Villa to compete at the top end of the Championship next term if it goes wrong at Wembley on Saturday.
Asked if the financial squeeze would be tighter, Bruce replied: “I would think so because we haven’t got the parachute payment.
“But I haven’t gone into the realms of that just yet. We don’t want to, basically, but I would think so.
“If there wasn’t a lot of money last year then I can’t see it being any different next year, in fact it might be worse.”
Bruce added: “It hasn’t been easy with Financial Fair Play. People need reminding of that because they think I’ve used a big cheque book here, which has not been the case. We’ve brought in loans and I think I spent £2.5m in the summer and brought in almost £20m.
“So it hasn’t been easy. We’ve had to balance the books and try to get the club on an even keel financially too.
“Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a long way to go in that respect, but that’s been part of the remit too and I think it’s important that everybody knows that.”