Sunderland boss Steve Bruce returns to former club Birmingham City on Saturday admitting that he was hurt by the way he parted company with the Blues.
At a time of great uncertainty over the up-for-sale club’s future in November 2007, Bruce ended several months of speculation by rejoining Wigan.
Bruce said: “What disappointed me most in the end was the way it finished.
“After six years, you would think there would be a little bit of respect. But it became nasty and left a bad taste.”
Bruce admits that he was unsettled from the moment Carson Yeung first declared his interest as a would-be buyer of Birmingham in the summer of 2007.
Two years on, Bruce will make his first return to St Andrew’s in what will also be Yeung’s first home game since completing his takeover.
Former owner David Sullivan, chairman David Gold and managing director Karren Brady will not actually be there.
But the thought of returning to the club has brought back bitter memories for Bruce, as he admitted to BBC Sport’s Pat Murphy, in an interview this week with Radio 5 live.
“In the end, I had to go for my own health and my sanity,” Bruce said.
“We’d just gone up again and should have been talking about what we were going to do. But, instead, there was no mention of the team, just about the takeover of the club.
“Before the Chinese takeover, it was rock solid. Mr Sullivan and Ms Brady made all the decisions.
“Then it became ‘Are they going to take over or are they not?
“When you’re trying to manage, with all this stuff about ‘Are we going to sell?’, taking your eye off the ball on what we were going to do on the field on the Saturday, it became impossible.
“It was becoming a soap opera. It was ‘Can we sign a player?’ ‘No, I don’t think so’. ‘Can we do this?’ ‘No, I don’t think so’. ‘Can we do the other’? ‘No, I don’t think so’.
But, as frustrated as he was by having his hands tied in the transfer market on the back of winning a second promotion to the Premier League with Blues, Bruce said he was most wounded by comments from Sullivan that found their way into the media.
“Mr Sullivan’s comments that they’d got £3m for me and it was the best bit of business the club ever made disappointed and hurt me,” Bruce added.
