Top Ten: Steve Bruce signings
Jonny Abrams
Posted on: 25 November 2009 - 11:02
Football
He may be reaping the plaudits for masterminding Sunderland’s excellent start to the season, but Steve Bruce came in for some stinging criticism from Dave Whelan, his chairman at Wigan Athletic, in the wake of the Latics’ 9-1 mauling at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur.
In amongst leaping to the defence of current manager Roberto Martinez, Whelan said: "Roberto is Wigan's manager and I have complete faith in him and I know the supporters have. He has got a difficult time, he inherited a team that was a little bit weak on reserves when Steve left.
“Steve actually had a few dodgy signings just before he left Wigan and he has inherited those dodgy signings so I can't blame Roberto one iota.”
It’s not the first time that one of Bruce’s chairmen has criticized his transfer policy: Birmingham City’s David Sullivan had a pop last year. Are we missing something? Isn’t this the man who signed the following players, all neatly packaged together as Sport.co.uk’s Top Ten Steve Bruce signings?...
10. Mikael Forssell
Although the Finnish striker’s eventual £3m permanent signing proved to be an injury-blighted disappointment, his initial loan spell at Birmingham yielded 17 goals in a Premier League campaign that lifted Blues to a 10th place finish. Forssell’s goal return that season was superior to any striker at Chelsea, the club he was on loan from. Shrewd stuff from Bruce, even if it ultimately didn’t work out. On his pre-season debut for current club Hannover 96, Forssell scored ten goals in a 23-0 win over FC Boffzen. Feel any better now, Wigan?
9. Jermaine Pennant
Bruce himself recently declared the former Arsenal and Liverpool winger to be his best signing, saying: "Pennant is probably the biggest rascal I've had. But he was a nice one. I liked him as a boy. I bought him for £1million and sold him [to Liverpool] for nearly seven. The best time was when he had a tag on! He had to be indoors by 10 o'clock and I asked if I could get a few more of them tagged!” And here we see a classic device of anecdotal conveyance: the more exclamation marks, the fonder the reminiscence. Go on, Brucey…pick up a phone. Give him a call. It’s good to talk.
8. Emile Heskey
Dozens of highly-paid and highly-qualified football managers reckon he’s the bees knees. Millions of incredulous football fans beg to differ. ‘He’s great foil for [insert star striker here]’ argue the media. "Some people like to criticise Emile, but I can produce plenty of facts and figures to back up how important he is to us, and how many goals we have scored that he has been involved in,” said Gerard Houllier, his manager at Liverpool. Perhaps it’s all an elaborate wind-up, but Bruce splashed out £3.5m plus add-ons for Heskey at Birmingham and got him performing to the extent that he was named Fans’ Player of the Season for the 2004/05 season. The experience of working with Heskey also served well for Bruce when he later managed him – also to good effect – at Wigan. The best/only defensive centre-forward in the country?
7. Lee Cattermole
The combative midfielder’s £3.5m switch from Middlesbrough to Wigan in 2008 didn’t exactly cause shockwaves but, in retrospect, it ranks alongside Aston Villa’s sale of Gary Cahill in terms of strange recent sales. Cattermole went on to become a key member of both the Latics’ and England U21’s engine rooms – yes, engine rooms – and Bruce grew so accustomed to his face that he signed him again in the summer, this time for a bargain £6m to Sunderland. Postscript – he’s gonna be out injured for a while.
6. Matthew Upson
£1m plus add-ons was all that Bruce paid Arsenal for current West Ham and England centre-back Upson and, despite the requisite injuries, he managed over 100 games at Birmingham before Upson went to Upton for £6m in 2007. A quality Premier League performer who stands a strong chance of making England’s 2010 World Cup squad, Upson owes much of his progression to Bruce’s faith in him at St Andrew’s.
5. Darren Bent
Frankly, if Bent sees out the season in the same vein as he’s started it, there should be books written and films cast in his honour. He’s already scored 9 Premier League goals – including winners against Arsenal and Liverpool and a superb strike in the 2-2 draw at Manchester United – and £10m is already looking like another Brucey bargain. He was deemed a flop at Spurs, despite finishing as the club’s top scorer last season with 17 goals, and, factor in his record at Charlton, and you’ve got a player who really will score goals wherever he goes. Such as the World Cup, perhaps? Postscript: might also be out injured for a while.
4. Lorik Cana
The Albanian defensive midfielder was linked heavily with Everton over the summer before Bruce stepped in with a decisive £5m bid, and how David Moyes must rue not having the money in place in time. The former Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille man is an early frontrunner for signing of the season and his mix of aggression and style has made such an impact at the Stadium of Light that he has already been appointed as the team’s new captain following the departure of Dean Whitehead.
3. Antonio Valencia
Bruce inherited the loanee, and subsequently offered him a permanent contract, after Paul Jewell had brought the Ecuadorian to the JJB following his impressive showing at the 2006 World Cup. Perhaps spurred on by his earlier failure to break into the first team at Villareal, Valencia subsequently upped his game to the extent that Real Madrid were sniffing around him in January before, of course, Manchester United landed him in the summer for around £16m. However much the undisclosed amount that Bruce paid for him was, it’s safe to say that it was nowhere near that amount.
2. Wilson Palacios
The Honduran midfielder initially joined Bruce for a loan spell at Birmingham – apparently on the recommendation of one A. Wenger - and then swiftly followed him to Wigan, where he forged a glowing reputation as an energetic, box-to-box dynamo whose performances lifted the Latics as high as 7th in the table before a £14m move to Tottenham Hotspur in January. He has excelled at White Hart Lane and, along with Valencia, represents such an astonishing profit for Wigan that it’s hard to see how Whelan can have the temerity to criticize his dealings.
1. Christophe Dugarry
France international forward Dugarry’s stay at Birmingham was brief, and his top form was displayed even more briefly but, during the initial half-season that he spent on loan at St Andrew’s, he was electric. A run of 5 goals in 5 games went some way towards cementing the club’s Premier League status and, to this day, mere mention of his name is enough to induce misty-eyed reels of superlatives from Blues fans whom, thanks to Bruce’s initiative, had the pleasure of getting to watch one of the finest players in their beloved club’s history.
Honourable Mentions:
Sebastian Larsson – Bruce paid Arsenal just £1m for the Swedish winger after an initial season-long loan and the number 7 has gone on to establish himself as a firm favourite amongst the St Andrew’s faithful (no relation to Marianne).
Amr Zaki – There may have been no sight nor sound of the Egyptian striker for some time now, but his electric start to last season (10 goals by the turn of the year) arguably justified the £1.5m loan fee on its own. Late returns from international duty led to Bruce labelling him “highly unprofessional” and declining the option to sign him for another season.
Michael Turner – The 26 year-old centre-back joined Sunderland in the summer after an impressive first season in the Premier League at Hull, and Bruce recently declared him to be “arguably the signing of the season”. If he really did cost just £4m, then he has a point.
Maynor Figueroa – Another loan deal made permanent, and another Honduran, the 26 year-old left-back has settled in well at Wigan.
Mario Melchiot – The current Wigan captain was signed by Bruce for Birmingham as well.