Steve Bruce has resigned as manager of Hull, according to reports.
Bruce, 55, led Hull to promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in May, but has reportedly quit following a meeting with the club’s owners and did not take training on Friday morning.
The former Sunderland, Wigan and Birmingham boss, appointed at the KC Stadium in June 2012, was interviewed for the England job on Monday but the Football Association is poised to announce Sam Allardyce as Roy Hodgson’s successor.
Bruce, whose offer to resign in 2014 following the club’s relegation was turned down, revealed he was unsure of his future after the Tigers’ play-off triumph against Sheffield Wednesday.
Hull chairman Assem Allam, who missed the trip to Wembley after undergoing surgery, has been in takeover talks with two American consortiums and the club announced this week that those had been put on hold to allow them to prepare for life back in the top flight.
But no major new signings have been made with the start of the new season just three weeks away.
Bruce is understood to have sought assurances from the Allam family over the club’s future while his frustrations over lack of player recruitment have grown with goalkeeper Allan McGregor, Michael Dawson, Moses Odubajo and his son, Alex, all ruled out through long-term injury.
Allam first put the club up for sale in 2014 after the FA rejected his bid to change their name to Hull Tigers and due to ill health has delegated the day-to-day running of the club to his son and vice-chairman Ehab.
Bruce signed a new three-year contract in March 2015 and is the most successful manager in Hull’s history, twice winning promotion to the Premier League with the club and guiding them to their first FA Cup final appearance in 2014 when they lost to Arsenal.
He held informal talks with the FA over the England vacancy on Monday before the club issued a statement confirming there had been no official approach.
Bruce said it would be any English manager’s dream job to take on the England role and that his vast experience in the game, on the pitch and in the dugout, made him a worthy candidate.
“I don’t know if it’s going to come but if it does I would love to have a crack,” he told KCOM Sport earlier this week.
“Arguably it’s the right time. I’ve been in touch for something like 800 games as a manager, played 1,000…I’ve been around the block a bit.
“I would hope that would stand me in good stead.”
His coaching career began with brief assignments at Sheffield United, Huddersfield, Wigan and Crystal Palace but he put a reputation for itchy feet behind him during a largely successful six-year stay at Birmingham, who he also led to the Premier League on two occasions.
He went on to manage Wigan again and then Sunderland, who sacked him in November 2011, before he was appointed as Nick Barmby’s successor at Hull in June 2012.
