Football News
Bruce: I haven't taken offence at what was said
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is not offended by Wigan chairman Dave Whelan’s latest comments regarding his record in the transfer market. Whelan suggested Bruce had made a number of ‘dodgy’ signings at the DW Stadium (then the JJB) during his tenure, however Bruce claims Whelan is merely protecting Roberto Martinez after their 9-1 Premier league defeat against Tottenham.
Bruce told the Sunderland Echo: “I saw the quotes from Dave Whelan and I know that he was in Barbados at the time, so maybe he'd had one or two glasses of white wine when he made the remarks!”
“I could respond but I'm not going to because I don't want it to blow up into something it doesn't have to be.”
“I had a great relationship with the Wigan chairman and the one thing he was good at was always trying to protect the manager whenever possible, so I haven't taken offence at what was said.”
“I think he was just trying to take the heat off his manager and I can understand that.”
“I was trying to think of the couple of dodgy signings he was on about and I can only think of Hugo Rodallega and Charles N'Zogbia, who were signed at the back end of my time there, and if Wigan want to offload those two then we will be happy to take them.”
“I'm not going to get embroiled in that sort of stuff, but he knows the decent job I did for him.”