Nice to see you Brucie, nice

Steve Bruce is back in town on Saturday.

He's not been to St Andrew's in a managerial capacity since leaving for Wigan Athletic amid acrimonious circumstances in November 2007.

Speaking to him this week for a special feature in Thursday's Birmingham Mail, he's looking forward to taking his place in the (away) dug out again, and is intrigued especially about the Carson Yeung takeover and how that might affect the atmosphere at the ground and surrounding the club in general.

Bruce's views on his exit, Yeung and the old board make for a fascinating read.

For a bit of fun, I've put together my Brucie's Best Blues, selected from the players he brought in, with the criteria heavily weighed towards how effective they were, and the degree of impact on the team.

As it will only cause problems, I daren't select a 4-5-1 formation but a nice and attacking 4-3-3 instead.

Taylor;

Tebily, Cunningham, Upson, Kenna;

Johnson, Savage, Clemence;

Forssell, Dugarry, John.

Subs: Devlin, Heskey, Pennant, Bendtner, Jaidi, Kelly, Larsson.

As for the picture, it was taken by Tim Easthope at Blues pre-season camp in Marbella in 2006.

Bruce realised Tim had snatched the shot, and half-jokingly threatened us that it couldn't be used in the newspaper.

By then Bruce and Simon Jordan - who lives out there - had kind of kissed and made up, although the perma-tanned one received much abuse from passing Blues fans as he sat and watched training.