Relegation battle won't affect Cup quest
Mar 21 2006
By John Curtis, Daily Post
STEVE BRUCE has insisted Birmingham's desperate Barclays Premiership plight will not detract from his desire to lead the midlands club to FA Cup glory.
Birmingham, who are battling to stay in the top flight having been in the bottom three since October, face Liverpool in the Cup quarter-finals at St Andrews tonight.
Bruce acknowledges survival is the number one priority but is also fully committed to achieving his dream of leading Blues to the first major trophy in their history. Bruce said: "We know the priority is staying in the Premier-ship. I bet if you ask 25,000 Blues fans, 'Would you rather win the cup and get relegated?' I wonder what the answer would be.
"I know what mine would be, that we've got to stay in the Premier League for the sake of everything connected with the club.
"But, for the prestige, the FA Cup is a fantastic tournament and if you get this far in the competition, you can start smelling the hot dogs a little bit.
"It's a big game, a quarter-final, we've done quite well against Liverpool in the last couple of years, and if you get into the semis, anything can happen. Once you get into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, it should mean a lot to everyone because it's a chance of winning a major trophy.
"At this club we are only going to be in a position to win the two cup competitions. You have to win six games to win the FA Cup and we've already won three.
"Can you enjoy the FA Cup because of the league position? It's a cup tie and once it comes around, if you can't get excited about a quarter-final tie in the FA Cup, there's something wrong. Liverpool at St Andrews is a fantastic game."
Bruce will be hoping history - from two decades ago - will not repeat itself if Birmingham do book a place at the Millennium Stadium on May 13. He said: "I went to a cup final with Norwich - the League Cup - in the 1980s and got we relegated. We won the cup by beating Sunderland. We were mid-table when we won the cup. Both of us ended getting up relegated.
"I bet the vast majority of the fans prefer Birmingham won the FA Cup because they have never won anything major in their history. The club is always going to be in the bottom eight and geared for a relegation fight. In the cups, you just need that bit of fortune at the right time."
