'Has he adjusted to the modern game?' Blackpool legend reacts to the appointment of Steve Bruce

It was a shock - no one saw that coming. It’s been like Houdini, smoke and mirrors. I don't even think Steve Bruce was in the top 10 of favourites. It’s taken pretty much everyone by surprise.

As a player he played for one of the biggest clubs in the world, and managerial-wise, he’s been in charge of a lot of clubs and has a very good success rate.

He’s had a fantastic career. I think at Newcastle he was harshly treated, but certain situations stick in people’s heads and they forget about everything else he has achieved.

His knowledge of football is there to see, he’s managed at the highest level. In his interview, it sounded like he was itching to get back in.

Some managers go away and have a complete break. I’m sure he’s come into this with his eyes open and he will have some kind of plan.

I’m not sure how long the talks have been going on for, but he’s watched the last three games, so he’s obviously been studying things.

He’s certainly not doing this for the money, he’s doing it for the love of football. This is his whole life, you can feel lost when you step away from the game when it’s all you have known. It guarantees that he’ll give it everything he’s got.

Obviously Mick (McCarthy) had been out of the game for a bit when he came in, and things had moved on. Whether you give it someone like that or a younger coach, you just don’t know how it’s going to work out.

I’ve played against Bruce’s teams plenty of times, especially when he was at Birmingham - that’s the one that sticks out, they won the league when I played against them.

They had to be good teams otherwise they wouldn’t have earned promotion. When you look at his record, he’s got some pedigree.

If you’re going off experience he’s one of the best around, but has he adjusted to the modern game and has that time out taken its toll? - No one will know until he’s in that hot seat.

It’s a good appointment bringing in Steve Agnew because he’s a highly rated coach. It’s good that he has kept Richard Keogh and Stephen Dobbie too, because that’s the connection to younger players.

It seems like it could be a very good management team. What he’s done is very clever and shows he’s got an understanding of this level.

Keogh and Dobbie will know the whole squad and the youngsters in very good detail, while he and Agnew will only be seeing some of them for the first time, so it’s important.

The time it took (to appoint Bruce) was probably down to Simon Sadler making sure this one is right.

There’s a lot of good managers out of work, so I’m sure he’s sat down with different candidates, because he wants success, it’s his money he’s spending.

People who have made the kind of money Simon Sadler has don’t like throwing it away, so he’s probably looked at a lot of different things and come to the agreement that Steve Bruce is the best choice.