Cisse ‘has to toe the line’

BIRMINGHAM manager Steve Bruce has told Aliou Cisse that he could still have a future at the club despite placing him on the transfer list yesterday.

The Senegal international was fined and put up for sale for "a serious breach of club discipline".

The 27-year-old midfielder failed to report for pre-season training when requested last week and then arrived over an hour late for the first full squad session this week.

Bruce said: "Aliou has been placed on the transfer list and fined two weeks' wages for behaviour, in my view, that is unacceptable. I am bitterly disappointed with Aliou's attitude. Until he proves he wants to play for us, that he wants to be part of the squad again, I don't want him around the place.

"I've sent Aliou away and told him to come back when he's fit and raring to go. He must prove to me that he's the Aliou Cisse who came here a year ago and set the place alight. No, it's not the end of the line for him he's got to toe the line."

Cisse, who joined the Blues from Paris St Germain for £1.5 million last year, had been asked to return early after missing the final 14 games of last season through injury.

But Cisse claimed he was unaware of the request and was not contactable during the summer because he had lost two mobile phones. Bruce was prepared to overlook this, but said the final straw was when Cisse arrived late this week, claiming he had an abductor injury.