Comment: Steve Bruce is a solid choice for West Brom and CV deserves respect

Those were the precise words he used last October when reflecting on the end of his tenure at Newcastle, a two-and-a-bit year slog where he was subjected to continued abuse the like of which appeared to have finally broken the spirit of a man who once proudly referred to himself as “a stubborn t***”.

“This will probably be me done as a manager,” he admitted.

And yet here Bruce is, barely three months later, getting back in the saddle at the age of 61 for managerial challenge No.12 and becoming only the second man, after Ron Saunders, to have taken the reins at the Albion, Villa and Blues. One can only hope teaming up with the Baggies goes better for him than it did Saunders.

Indications are Bruce will need a good start to win over the doubters.

Granted, reaction to his appointment among supporters is nowhere near as vitriolic as what he faced on Tyneside in the summer of 2019. But at best it would be described as mixed. For many Bruce feels an underwhelming and uninspiring choice.

Complaints over Valerien Ismael’s style of play almost felt something of a red herring by the end of his tenure – results were alarming enough to hasten the Frenchman’s exit.

Yet they were still valid and Bruce isn’t exactly regarded as a master of entertainment. Fairly or unfairly, he has been packaged into a group of managers accused of being past their sell by date. The fact two of its other members, Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce, are recent predecessors at The Hawthorns does little to help his cause.

But then you look at a CV which includes four promotions from the Championship – more than any other manager – and it is easy to understand why he is attractive to a club desperate to regain its top flight at the earlier possible opportunity.

Bruce came close to adding a fifth promotion at Villa in a tenure now commonly regarded as a failure because he missed out.

A quick review of the early days of his B6 reign are, however, potentially instructive when considering the situation he finds himself now.

After walking into a club still reeling from relegation, Bruce won as many matches (four) in his first seven games in charge as his predecessors had managed in the previous 51. His warm but uncompromising personality helped to rejuvenate a dressing room which had become disillusioned and in some places toxic. Throughout his career, he has been rather good at achieving a new manager bounce.

Albion are in a far better place than Villa were then and Bruce’s approach might be just what is required to revitalise players who quickly grew tired of Ismael’s cold, detached methods. That, surely, is what the Baggies reshuffled board is counting on? They might also have noted that Bruce, wherever he has gone in his career, has often done his best work when the money is tight.

The question is whether, after a stormy finish to life at Villa and his bruising time at Newcastle, he still has the energy for another job.

The answer can only be guessed at yet the suspicion, from those who have grown to know him over the years, is that he will arrive at The Hawthorns with a point to prove.

Bruce, of course, can only achieve so much. For a long time now Albion’s problems have extended a long way beyond the dugout, to an ownership which is largely absent and silent other than a tendency for drastic changes in strategy.

Consider, for example, that Bruce will become the Baggies fourth boss in the past 14 months, during which they have sacked a technical director and now seen a chief executive pushed aside. Supporters have every right to despair at how a club which just a decade ago was held up as the model of a mid-table Premier League outfit has become locked in a constant cycle of upheaval.

Until those running the show develop a coherent long-term strategy, none of that will change. In the meantime, with just 17 league games remaining and a promotion still to be won, Steve Bruce is as good a choice for boss as anybody.