Hull's Bruce professes admiration for Swansea

Bruce takes his team to the Liberty Stadium on Saturday on the hunt for vital points in the fight to preserve their top-flight status.

Swansea are sitting far more comfortably in eighth position and their Premier League status has rarely been under threat since they were promoted from the Championship in 2011.

Brendan Rodgers moved on from Swansea to take the manager’s job at Liverpool, leaving predecessor Michael Laudrup to mastermind a League Cup triumph in 2013 before former club captain Garry Monk took the reins last term.

The South Wales club have achieved their success while retaining an element of fan ownership and Bruce is an admirer of them on and off the field.

"They are a role model for all the smaller clubs," he told a pre-match press conference.

"They have a philosophy of their own and have gone down a road which is unique.

"For all of the smaller clubs in the Premier League, the position Swansea are in, you have to pay them the highest compliment.

"If we can make a fist of it like them, we will be in a great position."