Steve “Loyalty” Bruce is Back at Wigan

By: Daryl | November 19th, 2007

Steve Bruce back at Wigan Looks like Steve Bruce is heading back to Wigan. The second bottom team in the Premiership have been managerless since politely asking Chris Hutchings to leave, and things have actually gotten worse since then with Spurs handing them a 4-0 beating before the international break. Meanwhile Bruce had been getting more and more frustrated at Birmingham, where despite doing a decent job (they’re currently 15th) prospective new owner Carson Yeung has stalled and stalled over OK-ing Bruce’s proposed new contract. So the part-time author (no, seriously) has jumped before being pushed and gone to work for his old boss at Wigan. But let’s hope Bruce stays at Wigan a bit longer than he did last time.

Bruce was in charge of the Latics for six games back in 2001, before jumping ship to take over at Crystal Palace (where he stayed for just four months before heading for Crystal Palace.) To his credit, Wigan owner Dave Whelan refuses to bear a grudge.

“I was annoyed when he walked away, he’d been out of football for nine months when I gave him an opportunity – but I didn’t give him a contract,” he said.
“He came to Wigan for the last six weeks of the season, did a super job, then got an offer from Crystal Palace that he wanted to take.
“I was upset at losing him as I could see the ability he had and am delighted we’ve got him back.”

An admirable sentiment, but I’m starting to worry about Whelan’s ability to learn from the past. Paul Jewell somehow kept Bradford City in the Premiership on the last day of 1999/2000, only to resign soon afterwards. Bradford replaced him with Jewell’s assistant Chris Hucthings, but results in 2000/1 were so bad that Hutchings was (to paraphrase Wyclef Jean) gone by November. So when Jewell left Wigan after narrowly avoiding relegation on the last day of last season, it seemed insanity to repeat the Bradford disaster and replace him with assistant Chris Hutchings. But that’s what Whelan did, and once again Chris Hutchings was sacked in November. Fool me once and all that.

So for the sake of all Wigan fans sanity, here’s hoping history doesn’t repeat itself again at the JJB Stadium and Steve Bruce sticks around for more than six games.