Bruce rounds on critics

Steve Bruce has launched a stinging attack on his critics and predicted Birmingham will climb the Premiership table once he has a fully fit squad at his disposal.

Bruce was angered by suggestions he had “lost the plot” and taken City as far as he could after a return of one point from the opening three games of the campaign.

But Blues bounced back with a 3-2 win at West Brom on Saturday and Bruce is convinced better times will be around the corner once the likes of Mikael Forssell, Jiri Jarosik, Muzzy Izzet and Nicky Butt gain full match sharpness.

Bruce said: “What has been written and spoken about me, things like ’I’ve lost the plot’ and ’he’s taken us as far as he can’ are just an absolute nonsense.

“People forget the four years hard work you’ve put in to get where we are today. People forget where we were four years ago. We didn’t even have an international player then. Now we’ve got a dozen or more.

“People have got short memories and it is very satisfying to win and you are mostly pleased for the people who are close to you because they suffer more than anybody.

“No-one takes what happened last Tuesday night, when we lost 3-0 at home to Middlesbrough, more badly than me. I was a player at Birmingham for two years and I’ve been here four years as a manager and it was the worst I’ve ever felt.

“But to hear things that have been written and said is nonsense.”

Bruce added: “You don’t have to be Einstein to understand the problems we’ve got. When we’ve got people like Izzet, (David) Dunn and (Emile) Heskey out of the team we have to take a rain check to see where we are and it’s a struggle.

“You can see the glaring problems we’ve got. Jiri Jarosik started his second game in eight months on Saturday. Nicky Butt hasn’t trained and played properly for the best part of six months.

“Mikael Forssell made his second start in 11 months at West Brom. Muzzy Izzet is feeling his way back after not starting a game since November.

“We’ve now got these two weeks to work on things. When we get everyone fit and raring to go, then we’ve got the makings of a very good team.

“We have got some good players at the club. We are struggling to get them fit - but once we do, we will be okay.”