English Premiership:The prospect of facing Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal next season might have been uppermost in the minds of Birmingham's fans yesterday but Steve Bruce was inclined to look backwards rather than forwards.

Recalling the coach journey after a 1-0 defeat at Barnsley three weeks ago, the Birmingham manager said he had felt tempted to "sit back and stick two fingers up" to some supporters in the wake of securing an immediate return to the Premiership.

"I remember a minibus when we came back from Barnsley chased us for the best part of two hours," said Bruce. "(They) threw bottles at us and everything. There was a group of them, 40 years old, burning the shirts, burning the tickets, wanker signs, the lot. It's the way football is now. You'd like to stick two fingers up to those but, overall, the vast majority of people would look at the big picture and think, 'He's been here six years and he's not done a bad job'."

Having reported that he was suffering from a "raging hangover", Bruce postponed training yesterday and took his players for lunch to celebrate promotion. It had hardly been a straightforward success, the fans that vented their anger on the way back from Oakwell symptomatic of the unrest festering behind the scenes at St Andrew's at various times this season. Bruce, however, will attend this month's annual board meeting in ebullient mood.

He is already planning for next season and, mindful of Birmingham's failure in the Premiership 12 months ago, talked about "learning from your mistakes". The transfer strategy will be the biggest change, with the club no longer prepared to pay exorbitant transfer fees and salaries for players in the twilight of their career.

"When we came up last time I went for experienced players because we couldn't get anyone else," Bruce said. "The average age was 31 or 32 and that was ridiculous. We won't make that mistake again.

"The vast majority of these players are young. We know we have to strengthen. We are going into the best league in the world again and we'll be competitive again. I was reading a stat that we went down to 10 men eight times and won seven of them - that tells you what they are like. They might not be the prettiest to watch at times but, in terms of having a go, they deserve a crack."

There will be departures, with Nicklas Bendtner, on loan from Arsenal, certain to go back after agreeing a new contract with the London club.

Bruce will, however, speak to Arsene Wenger about signing Fabrice Muamba long-term; the 19-year-old is expected to speak to the Arsenal manager this week.

Bruce also plans to get in touch with Sunderland's manager, Roy Keane, a former Manchester United team-mate.

"Fair play to what he's achieved in six months," said the Birmingham manager. "He must think this job is easy. Wait until he's done it 10 years."

... Guardian Service