Alex Bruce has parted company with Birmingham City after signing for Ipswich Town, the 21-year-old son of Blues' manager moving to Portman Road on a three-year deal.

Bruce junior arrived at St Andrew's in January 2005 after Mark Bowen, Bruce senior's former assistant manager, had gone to fill the same role at Ewood Park.

With Bowen leaving St Andrew's acrimoniously, the situation was always going to be untenable and Bruce junior arrived at St Andrew's after a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday.

He proved himself to be a perfectly competent Premier-ship player during his 12 appearances for the club and did not look out of place last season.

However, Bruce senior was always aware that accusations of nepotism could be levelled at him, however erroneous.

And with an abundance of centre-halves at his disposal this season, Bruce senior decided to allow the affable defender an opportunity to blossom away from his watchful eye.

"Allowing Alex to leave has been one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make," Bruce senior said.

"I've always tried to put my feelings as a father to one side and make choices that are best for the football club.

"However, I cannot escape the fact that I am leaving myself open to charges of nepotism as far as Alex is concerned. It's not fair on me and certainly not fair on him.

"After all, he is trying to make a career for himself in the game and that is hard enough.

"Jim Magilton (Ipswich manager) rang me on Monday morning and asked me about Alex and, after a great deal of consideration, I decided it was best for the club if Alex moved on."

Bruce junior was equally enthusiastic about his transfer and admitted his father had influenced his decision to head for pastures new.

"It is very difficult working for your dad and we both agreed it was the right time to get away," Bruce junior said.

"He told me that Ipswich were a club with a great pedigree for bringing young players through and that they play a great brand of football.

"We look as though we have a young, hungry team and you can tell that Jim Magilton is enthusiastic from the very first time you meet him.

"When you look at the facilities, it is obviously a club that is destined for the Premier League.

"We will be doing our utmost to try to achieve that. At my age, you need to be playing every week.

"Hopefully, I will be playing every week here and I am extremely excited about sign-ing for Ipswich."

Back at St Andrew's, Bruce will have to cope without another of his centre-halves on Saturday for their opening fixture of the campaign against Colchester.

Radhi Jaidi will be unavailable for the clash as his work permit has yet to arrive.

Blues are waiting for Home Office approval and, in the worst case scenario, Jaidi could be left in limbo for up to three weeks.

Another of Bruce's prospective signings is facing a delay as Seb Larsson is still unavailable to play.

His Arsenal team-mate Fabrice Muamba made an impressive debut for the club during their friendly against Boston on Monday but Larsson was conspicuous by his absence.

However, the unexpected delay is close to being resolved and Birmingham are optimistic that Larsson may well be signed in time for Saturday's match.

But Bruce is salivating at the impact he predicts both Arsenal loanees will make during the next nine months.

"Fabrice (Muamba) has trained with us and we believe we have got an exceptional footballer for the age of 18," Bruce said.

"Fabrice is 6ft 3in, athletic and a Patrick Vieira lookalike. He is tremendously competitive and was exceptional when we saw him play for Arsenal against Reading in the FA Cup against Steve Sidwell and Kevin Harper.

"We believe he will do well for us, as he wants to progress and play football. We will give him that opportunity.

"Seb Larsson can play anywhere and he played at St Andrew's as a left-back for Arsenal last season.

"He is a versatile player who will bolster the squad and I am very pleased we have got him.

They'll come into the squad and we are still looking to bring two more players in."