LONDON, Oct 18 - Birmingham City manager Steve
Bruce is under pressure to turn around a woeful start to the
season after a scathing attack by the club's chairman.
Defeat by city rivals Aston Villa and Fulham's point at
Charlton Athletic on Monday dropped Birmingham into the
relegation zone and left chairman David Sullivan feeling
"depressed and gutted".
Speaking in Tuesday's Sun newspaper, Sullivan said the
"alarm bells" were already ringing.
"Don't let me hear anybody saying it's early days because 20
percent of the season has already gone," he said.
"Anybody who is not worried about our results and position
in the table is crazy.
"The time to start worrying is now, now when there's five
games to go and we have a mathematical mountain to climb.
"This must be our worst run of results at home for 20 years
and we haven't even played Chelsea, Manchester United or
Tottenham yet, who are the top three teams.
"Reality struck on Sunday when we played Villa and got beat
at home again. Since then I've been on the floor feeling utterly
depressed and gutted."
Under former Manchester United defender Bruce, Birmingham
have finished solidly in 13th, 10th and 12th since returning to
the top flight in 2002, but expectations were high this year
after they splashed out on new players.
Mikael Forssell joined on a permanent basis from Chelsea for
3.5 million pounds (