Even though his first game was in 1985 with his family, Bruce relied on friends and people from his village to get him to Blundell Park as a youngster. However, he soon began making new friends by going to games – many of which he still enjoys a pre-match pint with. The first ‘big game’ atmosphere he experienced at Blundell Park was against Coventry City in 1989, followed by Exeter in ‘91 to clinch promotion and then later games against Spurs, Villa, West Brom, Leicester and Fulham in the 90s stand out before Spurs (again) and Lincoln in 2005-06. He counts Paul Futcher, Clive Mendonca, Paul Groves and Ivano Bonetti among his favourite ever Town players, but as anyone who follows his account on Twitter would testify, Bruce loves regaling about players from long before his time.

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