Steve Bruce is convinced his relationship with Wigan chairman Dave Whelan is the best in the Premiership.

Bruce told the Wigan Evening Post: "I must have the ideal chairman to work for - Dave Whelan is English, is a football person and wants his team to do well.

"He never interferes in what I do at all - I think I'm the envy of a lot of managers.

"When I speak to other club managers, they crave to just be left alone to do their job.

"If you fail doing it your way, that's fine - you know what the consequences will be, so in that respect I'm very lucky.

"Which manager in their own right wouldn't want a say in a club's policy on transfers?

"You have to be responsible for transfers, responsible for the players you put out on the pitch to try to win matches.

"It works differently on the Continent, but that isn't the right way to do things over here."