Bruce shows his son the exit

Birmingham City manager Steve Bruce has revealed he not have allowed his son Alex to leave had he not been related to the Irish under-21 star.

Bruce Jnr moved to Ipswich Town on a three-year deal earlier this week and will go straight into the Tractor Boys' starting XI for the Coca-Cola Championship opener against Crystal Palace today (Saturday).

But the Brum manager admits that, but for the intricacies of the father-son relationship, he would have kept the young defender at St Andrews.

The former Manchester United centre half said: "It is not easy when your father is the manager, and I believe the difficulties that brings means that Alex needs to go elsewhere and carve out a career without all that surrounding him.

"Alex is a good player and was always 100 per cent committed to Birmingham. If he wasn't my son there is no way we would be letting him go because he is exactly what we are looking for.

"He didn't want to go, but I feel it's best for him. I've never been swayed by who he is ... Every time we stepped on the training ground he was just one of the players. But all that stuff could be levelled against him and that's not right."