Stephen Roger Bruce is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a center-back. He most recently managed West Bromwich Albion. Born in Corbridge, Northumberland, he was a promising schoolboy footballer but was rejected by several professional clubs.
Meet Joe Bruce And Sheenagh Bruce
Bruce was born in Corbridge in Northumberland, the elder of two sons of Joe and Sheenagh Bruce. His father was local, and his mother had been born in Bangor in Northern Ireland. The family lived in Daisy Hill near Wallsend, and Bruce attended Benfield School.
Bruce, a boyhood fan of Newcastle United, said that he sneaked into St James’ Park without paying to watch the team play, saying “I have always been a Newcastle lad and when I was a kid, I crawled under the turnstiles to get in to try and save a bob or whatever it was. They were my team, I went to support them as a boy, and being a Geordie it’s in-bred, you follow the club still the same today.”
Like several other future professionals from the area, he played football for Wallsend Boys Club