Bruce began his managerial career with Sheffield United, and spent short periods of time managing Huddersfield Town, Wigan Athletic and Crystal Palace before joining Birmingham City in 2001.

Seven months later, he was appointed manager of Hull City and led the club to two promotions to the Premier League, as well as the 2014 FA Cup Final, before leaving in July 2016.

[15] He came close to making his debut for the club's senior team in May 1979, but Summers decided at the last minute that, as Gillingham were chasing promotion from the Third Division, Bruce was not yet ready to handle the pressure of the occasion.

[19] Confident that he was being targeted by clubs from higher divisions, Bruce resolved not to sign a new contract with Gillingham when his existing deal expired at the end of the 1983–84 season.

[20] In an April 1983 match against Newport County, he attempted, in a moment of anger, to deliberately injure opposition player Tommy Tynan, but connected awkwardly and succeeded only in breaking his own leg, leaving him unable to play again for six months.

[21] He returned in time to play a key role in Gillingham achieving two draws against Everton in the FA Cup in 1984, attracting the attention once again of scouts from First Division clubs.

[28][29] Bruce played in every match as Norwich won promotion back to the top division at the first time of asking in the 1985–86 season,[28][30] after which he was chosen to replace the departing Dave Watson as club captain.

"[37] Bruce began to attract the attention of big-name clubs in late 1987, with Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Rangers all reported to be interested in signing him.

[39] The deal came close to collapsing when Norwich asked for a transfer fee of £900,000 after initially agreeing to accept £800,000,[40] leading to Bruce refusing to play any further matches for the club, which he felt was jeopardising his dream move.

[46] The team only finished in mid-table in the following season,[47] prompting manager Alex Ferguson to bring in several new players, including Gary Pallister, who joined the club in August 1989 from Middlesbrough.

[57] Bruce helped United win their first-ever League Cup in April 1992,[58] captaining the team in the final in place of the injured Bryan Robson.

[66] During the following season Bruce was offered the job of manager by three clubs, but Ferguson refused to allow him to pursue the opportunities as he felt the player still had a role to play in the United team.

[71] Bruce was among five former Premier League players signed by Birmingham manager Trevor Francis to add experience to a squad expected to challenge for promotion.

[74] Director David Sullivan felt the need to publicly deny rumours that Bruce was lined up to replace Francis as manager after the club's stock market flotation.

[56] Bruce was also known for his unusually high goalscoring rate for a centre-back, resulting from a combination of his ability to powerfully head the ball and his effectiveness in taking penalty kicks.

Bruce felt that the Gunners had broken an unwritten rule of sportsmanship by scoring the winning goal from a throw-in instead of returning the ball to United, who had intentionally kicked it out of play to allow an injured player to be attended to.

[93] Huddersfield were early promotion contenders in the 1999–2000 season, winning six consecutive matches to rise to third place in the First Division table by late November,[94] but lost form and failed to reach the play-offs.

[99] The team reached the Second Division play-offs but lost in the semi-finals,[100] and Bruce almost immediately left the club, where he had been in charge for less than two months, to take over as manager of Crystal Palace.

[106] The team went on to beat Bruce's former club Norwich City in the final after a penalty shoot-out to gain promotion to the Premier League, ending a 16-year absence from the top level of English football.

He stated that "as far as I'm concerned, I've got a job to do [at Birmingham City] and I'm determined to get on with it", but it was also reported that Newcastle would have been required to pay a much larger compensation fee or face legal action had he been persuaded to switch clubs.

"[127] In May 2007, Birmingham's board agreed a new contract for Bruce, but the unwillingness of the club's prospective purchaser Carson Yeung to ratify it left his future uncertain.

[132] As required under the terms of his contract, Wigan agreed to pay Birmingham a then-world record compensation for the loss of his services of around £3 million,[133] and they were then allowed to speak to him.

[148] On 25 February 2011, Bruce signed an extension to his contract, keeping him at Sunderland until 2014, with chairman Niall Quinn stating that "In only 18 months he has reshaped our squad beyond recognition, bringing in some fantastically talented players.

[148] Bruce was dismissed as manager on 30 November 2011, with Sunderland in 16th position following a poor run of form which culminated with a 2–1 home defeat to bottom club Wigan four days earlier.

[157] A run of poor form left Hull near the bottom of the table going into the final game of the 2014–15 season and needing to defeat Bruce's former club Manchester United to stand any chance of avoiding relegation.

[166] He brought in Colin Calderwood as assistant manager from Brighton & Hove Albion and Stephen Clemence from old club Hull City as first-team coach.

[173] On 27 January, his delay in taking up this appointment was criticised by Match of the Day pundits Danny Murphy and Ruud Gullit during a 3–0 FA Cup defeat away to Chelsea.

[175] BBC Sport reported in July 2019 that Bruce had resigned from his position at Wednesday,[176] after he earlier admitted that he had held talks with Premier League Newcastle United over their managerial vacancy.

[182] Reaction from the fans was mixed, with some feeling Bruce would not achieve the standard set by his predecessor Rafael Benítez, whilst his recent lack of Premier League football and management of rival club Sunderland proved controversial.

[203] Amy was linked romantically with Aston Villa player Lee Hendrie in tabloid newspaper stories in 2004, which provoked an angry response from her father, who described the reports as "lies", and claimed that journalists had gone so far as to contact his doctor and examine his household waste in an attempt to uncover gossip.