Alex Bruce part 2

Bruce openly admits if he achieves half what his father done, he'll be a happy man, but from an early age he seemed destined to follow directly in his father's footsteps. He was signed up by Manchester United at just nine-years-old, and played in the same side as Sunderland's Kieran Richardson.

However, when the time came for United's latest batch of young apprentices to be handed professional contracts, Bruce hadn't done enough to impress, and was realeased at just 16. It was a harsh wake up call to the ruthless world of football, yet whilst heartbreaking at the time, he remained determined to fulfil his dream of playing at the highest level.

Bruce was picked up by Blackburn Rovers and then manager Graham Souness saw enough potential in the youngster to offer him an extended contract. After a temporary breakdown on the road to football stardom, Bruce seemed to back up and motoring nicely. He won the league title with the U-19 side, and by the time Souness departed in 2004, he was a reserve-team regular.

When Mark Hughes was appointed as successor to Souness, Bruce could have been forgiven for thinking his career would keep progressing. A former playing partner of his dads, Bruce junior had met Hughes plenty of times, and hoped that his tenacity as a player would rub off on him. If he just kept his head down and continued working hard, he could continue his development.

Instead it threatened the complete opposite. Hughes brought in Mark Bowen as assistant manager, who had previously parted on bad terms with Steve Bruce at Birmingham City, and saw a perfect opportunity to exact some revenge via his son.

"At first everything seemed fine," he explained, "but after a couple of weeks I felt I was getting palmed to one side and wasn't getting a fair crack of the whip. When I came to Blackburn I was determined to let my football do the talking, but unfortunately politics ruined that. It turned into a really awkward situation."

The day he realised he wasn't going to be given a proper chance came in 2004 in the days leading up to Blackburn's Premiership game with Birmingham. Bruce arrived for training with the reserves only to be told to go and train with the academy side a couple of miles down the road. The coaches were going through set pieces with the first team and felt Bruce would relay those tactics back to his dad. His time at Blackburn was coming to an end.

Whether his dad felt partly guilt or not, he came to his son's rescue in summer 2005, signing him on a free transfer. Birmingham had just survived their debut season in the Premier League, but as Bruce quickly found out, a fair chance wouldn't be forthcoming there either.

Bruce made his full-debut for Brum against Newcastle United in February 2006, a proud moment for both father and son. Unfortunately it turned into a day that will be remembered for the wrong reasons. Bruce was started in central midfield ahead of Nicky Butt, who was just returning from injury. Butt took exception to this and stormed off, and although he later apologised the damage had been done.

"Nicky had an injury and wasn't picked for game; I got put in, and the press made a big deal of it, saying that if I ever played another game under my dad it'd be a disgrace. Those were the kind of hurtful comments that were been branded about.

"The thing was Nicky and me have always gotten on very well. There was no problem at all, but all situations like that kept happening where mountains were made out of molehills. I'd gotten out of a difficult situation at Blackburn and then went straight into another one at Birmingham. Everything was been blown up out of proportion."

Despite all the media negativity, Bruce began to find his feet in the first team, and gave a couple of decent showings at centre-back. But the media refused to back down, and slated his performances as well as his dad for continuing to select him. It was time to move on again.

"It didn't seem to matter how good I'd played, the press were always negative about me. Most young players would be cut a bit of slack when making their debuts in the Premiership, considering they were coming up against some of the best players in the world, but that never happened with me."

"The backroom staff were all very happy with the way I was playing, and that I was making as much progress as any of the other young lads. But with the situation the way it was, it was best to move on. When the Ipswich offer came along, I sat down with my family and we decided moving was the right thing to do."

His time at Ipswich didn't get off to the idea start either. 11 yellow cards and suspensions had people questioning whether his 5ft 11in frame was too short for a centre-back. But as the team improved so has Bruce. Ipswich boast the best home record in the division this season, and despite struggling on the road, recent away wins at Sheffield Wednesday and Crystal Palace has Bruce and Co feeling they've rectified that chink in their armour.

"I think we've turned the corner as far as our away form is concerned. We have a good team ethic when we haven't got the ball. It was playing on our minds, but having said that, picking up two away wins last month was a big relief for all of us. It's come at the right time and hopefully we can kick on and achieve promotion.

"I've found my feet at Ipswich. We've got quite a few Irish players in our squad and there's always a bit of banter flying about. I think our gaffer has been taking a leaf out of Roy Keane's book!

"Since the club is doing so well at the moment, everyone's buzzing, and hopefully Mr Trapattoni will take note of the Irish lads here, and give us a chance."

Should they achieve a place amongst the big boys next season, you can be sure Bruce and a couple more few Tractor Boys will be caught up in the Irish Trap movement. And with a bit of luck, there'll be another Italian victory for Bruce to celebrate in the near future.