Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn has welcomed boss Steve Bruce to the club by telling him ‘I used to hate you’.
The pair knew each other well from their playing days with Quinn, a former Manchester City striker, admitting he could not stand playing against Bruce, an uncompromising centre back at rivals United.
But the Black Cats chairman revealed it was the former Wigan boss’s competitive qualities that told him he was the right man for the Sunderland manager’s job.
"Steve used to get away with murder, because he was a little centre-half," Quinn told The Sunday Sun.
"Referees used to let little centre-halves knock lumps out of me.
"It would be true to say that when you’re a blue with a number nine on your back and you’re being marked by a red in Manchester with number four on his back, I would be lying if I said I respected him – I didn’t like him!
"But that’s not a slight – it was because he was so tough, he made life so awkward for you, and he constantly got the referee to whistle and the linesman to get the flag up. He was influential, as you know, that was his game, he was all-action.
"I had a few verbal run-ins with him over time but that doesn’t mean now, years later, that I don’t recognise his graft and determination.
"I know he’ll bring those qualities to his new job here at Sunderland."
Bruce was appointed Black Cats boss last week after Ricky Sbragia stepped down on the final day of the season after guiding the club to safety.
He revealed after taking the job that his first task would be instilling some mental toughness in the players and drafting in some top quality new signings.