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But Bruce transformed the Blues' fortunes dramatically - they gained a place in the division one play-offs and secured a place in the top flight for the first time in 16 years after a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Norwich at the Millennium Stadium.
"Steve has done amazingly well during the past 12 months. We had tried to get him in the October and by the time he came here in December we had resigned ourselves to spending another 18 months in Division One," said the Blues chairman.
"We always thought we might scrape into one of the play-off positions but we did not give ourselves a chance to go and get promotion.
"But Steve transformed us from a middle-of-the-table Division One club into one which got into the Premiership via that amazing day at Cardiff and has gone on from there.
"I said at the start of the season that with my chairman's hat on I would happily accept 17th place and secure another year in the Premiership and we are on course.
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"For me the two big highlights have been the win over Aston Villa, for what that means to the fans, and the victory at West Ham who I played for as a youngster and have supported for many years."
Gold added: "What is excellent about Steve is that he has helped to get everyone pulling in the same direction - the fans, the players, the backroom staff and the board. That has been a significant factor.
"We knew we were taking a chance with Steve because he was not a manager who had won loads of championships but he was young, eager, dynamic and exciting and enthusiastic - and he has proved to be everything we wanted as a manager.''
LEAGUE TABLE ONE YEAR AGO
| Nationwide League Division One 2001/2002 | Historical league standings at 11th Dec 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pld | Home | Away | Overall | Pts | GD | ||||||||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | |||||||||
| 1 | Burnley | 23 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 20 | 16 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 45 | 31 | 46 | 14 | ||||
| 2 | Manchester City | 23 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 25 | 23 | 13 | 3 | 7 | 52 | 33 | 42 | 19 | ||||
| 3 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 23 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 10 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 34 | 18 | 42 | 16 | ||||
| 4 | Norwich City | 23 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 12 | 23 | 12 | 3 | 8 | 31 | 32 | 39 | -1 | ||||
| 5 | West Bromwich Albion | 22 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 25 | 19 | 38 | 6 | ||||
| 6 | Crystal Palace | 23 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 31 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 22 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 45 | 34 | 37 | 11 | ||||
| 7 | Coventry City | 22 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 27 | 21 | 37 | 6 | ||||
| 8 | Preston North End | 23 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 26 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 39 | 30 | 36 | 9 | ||||
| 9 | Birmingham City | 23 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 25 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 20 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 37 | 29 | 36 | 8 | ||||
| 10 | Millwall | 22 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 38 | 28 | 35 | 10 | ||||
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