Aiming to take City higher than last season’s eighth-place finish, Bruce is looking for a positive start to the new campaign but knows that Brighton will provide a difficult test on the opening day.
“I know Brighton are a really good footballing side,” said Bruce.
“We know how they play and they took the division by storm last season. They were right up at the top end for six months but fell away a little bit.
“They’re a very good team, but that is what the Championship offers. We want to make the most of home advantage and I hope there will be a big crowd to get behind the team as we look to make a winning start.
“I’m sitting here because I want to take this club to where it wants to be, but there are at least another 20 managers in this division saying the same thing.
“First of all, we’ve got to try and improve from last year and be in and around the top six. From there, anything is possible.
“Years ago, I took over at Birmingham around Christmas time and they were 14th in the table. But we went on a run, got into the play-offs and won promotion. That can happen in the Championship, but we all need to be aiming at least for the play-offs.”