Under-fire Newcastle boss Steve Bruce wrote three crime thriller books that became cult classics worth £200 on eBay
UNCOMPROMISING centre half, Manchester United legend and hard-nosed manager are normally phrases used to best describe Steve Bruce.
But the under-fire Newcastle United manager is also a canny and prolific writer, penning three crime thriller books published between 1999 and 2000.
Bruce was managing Huddersfield Town, when he wrote the epic trilogy Striker! Sweeper! and Defender!
The books, which Bruce himself called "A laughing stock", are semi-autobiographical - the lead character is called Steve Barnes.
And the plots and the literature itself may be laughable too.
However, somehow they've become cult classics that have fetched up to £200 on eBay and Amazon, if you can find the rarities that is.
The first novel, originally costing £12, was the 127-page Striker!
Written in the first person, it puts you straight into the action of Barnes, manager of the fictitious Leddersford Town - a small, historic club aiming for Premier League promotion.
It opens with Barnes finding young Irish striker Pat Duffy stabbed to death in the dressing room.
He published of Striker! in 2015, and by the end of the year a copy was listed on eBay for £200.
"I loved it. There was just so much mad stuff," he told about reading Striker!
"There are so many strange decisions made in the writing of these books, such as the way the world is constructed," he continued.
"So, for instance, there's fake names that stand in for real places, like Leddersford for Huddersfield and Mulcaster for Manchester.
"But, he also talks about Manchester United and mentions Alex Ferguson.
"It's like reading a Batman comic where he takes a train from Gotham to New York."
At first, Bruce's son Alex denied that his father had written them.
However, he made a dramatic confession on Twitter later to BT Sport commentator Darren Fletcher.
And back in 2016, when managing Aston Villa, Bruce revealed the books were absolutely genuine.
"Have you read them?" he replied when asked by Sky Sports if there were anymore in the pipeline.
"Go and read them and you'll understand why."