In a week where Newcastle United's Steve Bruce has been in the news for his confrontation with a football reporter, Kenny Cunningham recalled an incident from their days at Birmingham City where Bruce's attempts at replicating Alex Ferguson's hair-dryer failed to have the desired effect on Thursday's OTB AM.
"Are you calling me a liar?" Onlookers were given a glimpse of a disgruntled Steve Bruce this week as the Newcastle United boss became embroiled in a row about his relationship with Allan Saint-Maximin.
For Kenny Cunningham, he is well aware of what the former Manchester United centre-half can be like when he gets angry. After leaving Wimbledon in 2002, the former Republic of Ireland captain spent four years playing for Bruce with Birmingham City.
Not usually one to divulge stories from within the dressing-room, talk of Alex Ferguson's man-management techniques gave Cunningham cause to bend his own rules - partially.
"We'd come into the dressing-room at half-time," he began, "and we had a seasoned international player in the team, by no means a young kid but he wasn't having the best of games, anyway.
"It wasn't me before you ask."
Disgruntled with the performance of a teammate that Kenny Cunningham has decided to leave listeners guessing about, the Birmingham City boss went to work on him.
"He started tearing strips off him," recalled Cunningham. "It doesn't matter [who the manager was] but I only had one manager there so you can figure it out.
"'Blah, blah, blah, that's the worst performance I've ever seen, you couldn't kick snow off a rope, blah, blah, blah.'
"The lad was just staring at him and when the manager stopped speaking he just went: "Gaffer, do you really think that how you've spoken to me is going to encourage me a better performance in the second half? I do not appreciate how you speak to me." The rest of the lads were looking around thinking, 'Oh my God.'
"It was just so awkward, like what do you do in that situation? Beam me out of here, Scotty!"
'It was so awkward!'
Kenny Cunningham on a continental culture clash in Steve Bruce's Birmingham dressing room... #bcfc
STORY ➡️https://t.co/VAOWonLm2s pic.twitter.com/qpgBdS5IpK— Off The Ball (@offtheball) March 5, 2020
In a situation where the stick proved a little less effective than the carrot, Kenny Cunningham highlighted the importance of knowing your players.
"You've got to know your players," he insisted. "How are you going to speak to them? What reaction will you get? How will it affect the rest of the dressing room?
"I didn't say it was Steve Bruce, don't put names in my mouth but the manager in question would occasionally turn on the hairdryer.
"You can't do it too much because players see it coming, you've got to pick your moment."
