Bruce's unveiling turns into a fiasco

SOCCERSteve Bruce's unveiling as Wigan manager turned into a fiasco yesterday over £225,000 (€313,000) of an image-rights bonus he was ordered to return to Birmingham City.

Bruce had been expected to sign a £2 million-a-year (€2.8 million) Wigan contract, one that contains a £1 million (€1.4 million) bonus clause if he keeps the club in the Premier League this season, in front of the TV cameras at the JJB Stadium. Instead the chief executive, Brenda Spencer, announced at 2pm: "Unfortunately an issue has arisen between Birmingham and Steve and until that is resolved we can't announce him as our manager."

The issue is Birmingham's insistence that Bruce repays approximately £225,000 of his last rights deal. Under the terms of a contract he signed at St Andrew's in 2004 Birmingham pay their manager a basic salary of £850,000 (€1.2 million) a year, a loyalty bonus of £250,000 (€347,655) each summer plus a total image-rights payment each September of £300,000.

The latter was advanced in full to Bruce three months ago but, as he will not be there for the final nine months of the deal, the co-owners, David Sullivan and David Gold, want the pro rata sum repaid. By two o'clock Bruce had refused to do so and the move was put on hold as frantic negotiations continued between the clubs.

Bruce agreed terms with Wigan late last week, the Latics have met Birmingham's record compensation demand of £3 million (€4.2 million) and the St Andrew's club have no issues with the £250,000 loyalty bonus paid to the manager in the summer.

The tussle over Eric Black's services, with Wigan wanting Bruce's assistant and Birmingham anxious to retain the Scot until they find a replacement, had no influence on yesterday's developments. Wigan remain adamant it is a question of when Bruce is announced as Chris Hutchings' successor, not if. Their chairman, Dave Whelan, is determined to re-appoint the manager who served him for eight games in 2001 but whether he will intervene in Bruce's financial stand-off is uncertain after having already committed £5 million (€7 million) to the deal. Birmingham, for their part, will not terminate Bruce's contract until the image-rights bonus has been returned and, should the impasse continue, the caretaker manager Frank Barlow will remain in charge for the daunting visit to Arsenal on Saturday.

"Steve is our number one choice and he wants to come to Wigan," added Spencer, who admitted the club have a contingency plan. "We do have a list but Steve has always been the one we wanted. We will have to wait on the situation as to whether we work our way down that list. We have been without a manager now for two weeks and we really want a manager in place by the weekend if possible."

Meanwhile, Italy's World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi has rejected the chance to replace Bruce as manager of Birmingham. Sullivan confirmed Birmingham had spoken with Lippi who enjoyed great success at club level with Juventus before leading Italy to football's ultimate prize in 2006.

Sullivan has been true to his word after claiming City would attempt to bring in "a top foreign coach" and not many have greater credentials than Lippi who is currently taking a break from the game.

Sullivan told the Birmingham Mail: "We made an approach and Lippi turned it down. This is not a stunt. It's genuine. He is available at the moment and we are looking at bringing in a manager of his stature and calibre, if at all possible. He was one of the first we went to but unfortunately nothing materialised.

"Of course, you get knock-backs. That's football. But if you do not try you will never know. It was the same with Martin Jol. It made sense for us to approach him.

"We are juggling other balls in the air at the moment and we will see which ones land."

Guardian Service