I work hard, train hard, demand a lot of my players, and that will always be the Bruce way of doing things. What I need is a chance really to establish myself as a manager.”For someone who only represented four teams (Gillingham, Norwich, Manchester United and Birmingham City) during his entire 19-year playing career, it is surprising Bruce has been the manager of as many clubs in his three years as a coach, including three (if you count his eight games in temporary charge of Wigan at the end of this season) in the last seven months.In his first job, Bruce took Sheffield United to the brink of the play-offs, but a lack of transfer funds prompted him to leave. During his 15 months at Huddersfield, he again led his new club to within one place of the play-offs. However, the sale of Marcus Stewart, against his wishes, was the beginning of the end and, 11 matches into last season and with the club lying bottom of the First Division, he was sacked.Huddersfield will now be playing in the Second Division next term. “Who knows what might have happened if I’d stayed,” Bruce says. “All I do know is that chopping and changing is not a solution.

If you look at the likes of Charlton and Ipswich, I’m sure that their success is down to stability and continuity. It’s the only way to progress.”The problem is that to gain stability you need good results, and that’s not always possible overnight. When I look at Palace, I see a very young but talented group of players, who probably underachieved last season. I’m not saying that I can turn them into champions overnight, but I would not have taken this job if I didn’t feel we could be pushing for a top-six place and, eventually, a return to the Premiership.”It is perhaps symbolic that, in the week of Bruce’s appointment, the Selhurst Park pitch was being relaid At Palace, it seems, the seeds of change have been sown.. A brave fight against corruption in Greek football almost cost their sports minister his job and saved England from bothering to turn up for their World Cup qualifier on Wednesday. Happily, the game goes ahead and Georgios Florides is still Greece’s Secretary of State for Sport.

A brave fight against corruption in Greek football almost cost their sports minister his job and saved England from bothering to turn up for their World Cup qualifier on Wednesday. Happily, the game goes ahead and Georgios Florides is still Greece’s Secretary of State for Sport.
Whatever you feel about government intervention in sport, you have to admire the way the Greeks are setting about cleaning up their football. It has earnt them a suspended ban from the game’s world governing body, Fifa, but provided a lesson for our electioneering parties of the benefits of having a sports minister with power and the courage to use it.When I saw Florides in his Athens office recently he spoke of the frustration and anger he had felt at watching the game he loved dying before his eyes. The corruption was so obvious that attendances last season were the worst ever.One of the leading Greek clubs, Panathinaikos, had seen their gates slump from over 20,000 to fewer than 1,000 It was the same story at most clubs. Suspicions of bribery were so strong the fans didn’t trust their own players, let alone the referees. Violence on the pitch was out of hand because the disciplinary system had broken down. The Greek football pools almost went out of existence because of the distrust.