Fraizer Campbell: Steve Bruce is a great manager

Nov 7 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

“He even gets involved on Friday mornings and when he comes out on the pitch he plays up front and he’ll say ‘Denis Law is out today’. He calls himself that! What’s he like? ‘Horrific.’ He doesn’t move much, he says he’s a target man.”

The striker said that signing for Bruce was not a difficult decision – revealing that he had almost signed for Wigan the year he went to Spurs on loan. “I met him the season before because before I went to Tottenham I was actually sat talking to him about a loan deal to go to Wigan so we chatted for a bit and kept in touch,” he said.

“This time when the Sunderland thing came about I was 100 per cent sure I was going to move there and come and play for him. He has the Manchester United history, he is just an all-round nice guy and he is someone players want to play for.

“If you know the manager has faith in you it makes it a lot easier to go play for him. A lot of players need looking after to get the best out of them and the manager here can do that.”

Having been passed fit to return to Spurs this afternoon, Campbell hopes to make the most of a rare chance to impress from the start of a game.

But despite fleeting opportunities, there is no regret that the striker didn’t opt for a club where he would have been given more first-team games.

“Everyone asks why didn’t I go to Hull where I would have been playing regularly this season and that, but I didn’t want to just move anywhere.

“With Sunderland I spoke to the people here and they were telling me their plans and they are ambitious and it is going to be a stable club for a few years, so I just didn’t want to be moving around again.

“I was looking at the long term.”