Bruce survives again

... is the man bulletproof? Today's Sun has as good a report as any (click here), but I don't believe David Gold when he claims to be desperate for a return to the Premiership. He's just desperate to keep his mate in a job.

Let's get this straight: this isn't about one match and one abject performance. Tuesday night has been coming for the past two and a half years, ever since we lost 2-0 at home to Sunderland in the FA Cup when winning would have cleared a path to the final. Since that night it seems like Bruce has been telling us the same old excuses every other week as one pathetic performance is eclipsed by an even worse one.

When could Bruce have reasonably expected to have been sacked?
Tuesday against Norwich? Last Saturday against Luton?
How about in the summer after relegation - 28 goals in 38 matches - had been confirmed?
What about after Blues were humiliated 7-0 at home in the FA Cup by Liverpool in our first Quarter Final appearance in 22 years?
Or at Christmas 2005 after losing 4-1 away at Manchester City when Bruce named a player - Heskey - on the bench who was 100 miles away at the birth of his child?
How about in October 2005 after back-to-back 1-0 home defeats against Everton and Villa - part of a sequence of five defeats and one draw in our opening six matches?
Or after losing 3-0 at home to Middlesbrough in August after Bruce did one of his inexplicable "square pegs in round holes" acts by playing people woefully out of position? Up until this point we'd been unbeaten at home against Boro in the Premiership, having defeated them 3-0, 3-1 and 2-0 in previous seasons.
Or maybe we should go back to the previous season after Blues recorded just two league wins in 25 league games?

On Tuesday night he gave Neil Danns just 35 minutes on the pitch having placed this central midfielder in a wide-right position. The same side saw a striker - McSheffrey - at wide left, and a central defender - Tebily - at right back. Within the space of 90 minutes the midfield found themselves shuffling around to accomodate his bizarre substitutions - the last of which saw our big striker replaced by a left winger who proceeded to do his job and send crosses into the box towards two strikers who were 6 inches shorter than their opposing central defenders. How can anyone expect to play as a team when he's constantly shuffling his pack praying for a lucky hand? How much more evidence of complete cluelessness do you need?

The board clearly feel themselves as being more than custodians at St Andrews. This is a board who remind us every available chance they get about how great they are for the club, but don't think this billion-pound group pour their own cash into the club. Oh no, they'll make "loans" available every now and then, but ultimately the club is self-financing, and that's achieved by squeezing every available penny out of the fanbase. Very little is given back - aside from finding yourself spammed by cold phone calls if you don't tick the right boxes, but when a club is reduced to sponsoring every single stadium announcement, what does that tell you about the true motives of its owners? That's why it's believable they think they can keep Steve Bruce in a job to the detriment of the club they supposedly love.

A message to Messrs Gold, Gold and Sullivan: you opened Pandora's Box by showing us life in the Premiership, and then you let Steve Bruce shut it. In 1992, just before you took us over, we had 18 points from 12 games in Division One. 14 years later and we're back where we began - not just when Bruce took over, but when you took over too.