Former Aston Villa, West Brom and Birmingham City manager to retire from football

Steve Bruce is expected to retire from professional football management after a 25-year career as a head coach with 11 different clubs, including three in the West Midlands. The former Manchester United man had spells at Aston Villa, Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion, with the latter being his last in the beautiful game.

As a player, Bruce began his footballing journey as a centre-back for Gillingham in 1979. Now, 44 years on, he has decided to bring an end to an extraordinary career. He was not the most successful toward the end of it, with supporters at each of his final few clubs eventually calling for his sacking, but Bruce remains respected and very well-known across the nation.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Bruce said: “‘I’m looking at it now, the last job in particular hasn’t gone so well. So is it time to say “okay - can I see if I can be without it? But, certainly, I’ve enjoyed it. Has it been difficult? Of course it has - if you’re going to go into management there is going to be difficult moments ahead. I don’t think you can ever say never - but at this moment in time I’m bordering that way (retirement).”

The club Bruce spent the longest time with was Birmingham as he enjoyed a six-year spell with Blues between 2001 and 2007. He helped his side to promotion to the Premier League via the playoffs during his first season in charge and then led Blues to a 10th-place finish in the top tier. Some more mid-table closes followed before they were relegated back down to the Championship.

Bruce’s time at Aston Villa was far more recent as he took charge of the Lions in October 2016, when they were in the Championship. He failed to get his team promoted despite reaching the playoff final at the end of the 2017/18 season and was eventually sacked after a poor run of form at the beginning of the next campaign.

West Brom were the final team to appoint Bruce, as he was brought in to replace Valerian Ismael in February 2022. At that point, the Baggies were sixth in the Championship but just eight months later they had fallen right down to 22nd in the division, their lowest league position for more than two decades. Bruce was relieved of his duties and Carlos Corberan has been reviving Albion ever since.

Not the best finale to his career, then, but Bruce leaves behind a strong legacy in football - a game he can now enjoy a bit more from afar. Whether or not he will head into punditry or a media role awaits to be seen, but BirminghamWorld will update readers if and when Bruce makes a decision on his future endeavours.