Steve Coppell said: ‘The only loyalty is between the supporter and his club. As the Palace chairman Simon Jordan so eloquently put it, ‘who the hell are Birmingham?’. The most surprising thing about Steve Bruce’s defection is not his infidelity to Palace, but his choice of Birmingham. I can remember how footballers like Trevor Brooking were considered remarkable 20 years ago for remaining loyal to one club. So why do we still bang on about it? Players were promiscuously club-hopping long before the Bosman ruling (1). So too are wooden rattles, lace-up balls and baggy shorts. Yes, loyalty in football is a thing of the past. (What we call him now cannot be published for legal reasons.) Three days later ‘Brucie’ – as we affectionately called him – asked for permission to talk to Birmingham City. The fans believed him and chanted ‘Steve Bruce is going nowhere’.
I want to manage in the Premiership and I’d love to take Crystal Palace there. On 28 October 2001 Bruce was quoted in the Independent on Sunday saying, ‘I’m extremely happy here. Loyalty, or rather its absence, has been the subject on every Palace fan’s lips this week after manager Steve Bruce decided to quit the club after only five months in charge.
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