Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce admits he was ready to take charge of Wolves seven years ago.

Bruce, who faces Wolves at St James' Park on Sunday, was out of work in February of that year having been sacked by Sunderland the previous November.

"It was February 23 because it was my anniversary and I took my wife to see Warhorse thinking that we'd got a job. We had a glass of champagne afterwards as well!" said Bruce.

"He (former owner Steve Morgan) then rang me at midnight and said, 'I've changed my mind, Terry Connor has galvanised the training ground'. I was going to see him the next day and I thought everything was done. But they gave it to Mick's assistant."

And Bruce was also in the running to take over at Molineux in the summer of 2016, shortly before the arrival of current owners Fosun International.

"I went to meet them in London," said Bruce. "I was out of work at the time, it was before Villa. They gave it to Walter Zenga.

"At the time it was attractive. They were in the Championship and the new Chinese people were just taking over. It's amazing the opportunities and twists and turns in my game, in management.

"If somebody had said to me six months ago I would be sitting here as manager of Newcastle then I wouldn't think that would be possible either. It's one of them, things that might have been."