STEVE BRUCE led his Manchester United side to glory on football’s fiercest stages yet tiny Kenilworth Road will always send a shiver down his spine.
For nearly a decade he was the defensive rock in a side that dominated England at the start of the Premier League era, winning nine major trophies.
Yet two successive trips to Bedfordshire prior to the start of the Prem turned into a nightmare for Bruce.
In September 1990 he set the unwanted record of becoming the first top-flight player to be sent off for a professional foul, after rule changes made it a red-card offence.
And the next season Bruce was in the side that stumbled to a point at Luton, sparking a collapse which wrecked dreams of a first title in a quarter of a century.
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With five fixtures left, United were five points clear of Leeds with two games in hand — albeit in the midst of a schedule involving 11 games in the final six weeks.
Then came that slip against a Hatters side facing relegation, three successive defeats for the Reds, three successive wins for the ultimate league victors Leeds and the Man Utd title drought was into a 26th year.
So with United about to return for the first time since that dismal 1-1 draw in April 1992, no wonder Bruce struggles to look on the fixture with any fondness.
Now 63, Bruce admitted: “When we went to Luton, we were in the middle of a ridiculous schedule. We had four games in a week at one stage.
“Before January we had been blowing teams away but by the end we couldn’t lift a leg — and Luton was the start of it.
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“The pressure of knowing we hadn’t won the league for so long was building, you pick up injuries as well with so many games, and we slipped up.
“It was really painful at the time and drawing with Luton was a major part. That was the start of our worst spell of the season and it blew it for us.”
Lee Sharpe had put United ahead but then Mick Harford equalised and almost from that moment the wheels came off, as Leeds shot past to win the last ever Division One crown.
As a centre-back, Bruce made more than 300 appearances for the Red Devils over the course of nine years at Old Trafford.
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And he recalls that his previous visit to Kenilworth Road had been equally tortuous — on a more personal level, as he lasted just 39 minutes before setting that unhappy first.
United were leading thanks to Mark Robins’ header when Iain Dowie spun away, Bruce tugged his shirt and referee Ray Lewis sent him packing.
He added: “To be honest I couldn’t even remember who I had fouled — it certainly wasn’t Mick because he’d never have sprinted anywhere! But yes, it was deliberate.
“It was that horrible plastic pitch, I grabbed his shirt so off I went. The first to get a red card under the new rules. Thanks for reminding me!
“So no, not the happiest place for me at the time. It wasn’t a good spell for me at Luton — although in a daft way I do believe it helped us enormously to win the title the next season.
“I wouldn’t say we bottled it but it was becoming more and more difficult to cope. It was a little bit of everything.
“There was, of course, the pressure of not having won it for 25 years — that’s something the current team will start feeling soon, because it’s been a decade now for United.
“We hadn’t really got the experience of winning then, so I do think it gave us the kicking not to go through it again — and Luton was the start of it.”
