Steve Bruce has hit back at Wigan chairman Dave Whelan's disparaging remarks claiming current boss Roberto Martinez has inherited a few of his 'dodgy signings' at the DW Stadium.

Whelan's comments came after Wigan's 9-1 humiliation at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday in a classic case of 'I'll defend my manager by having a pop at his predecessor'.

After the game, Whelan was quoted as saying: "He has got a difficult time, he inherited a team that was a little bit weak on reserves when Steve left.

Steve actually had a few dodgy signings just before he left Wigan and he has inherited those dodgy signings so I can’t blame Roberto one iota."

Sunderland boss Bruce, who left Wigan for the Stadium of Light in the summer, has hit back however, and quipped that he would be happy to sign those 'dodgy signings' for the Black Cats!

"I was trying to think of the couple of dodgy signings he was on about and I can only think of Hugo Rodallega and Charles N'Zogbia, who were signed at the back end of my time there, and if Wigan want to offload those two then we will be happy to take them!" he told the Northern Echo.

Despite the slightly derogatory remarks against him, Bruce still has a lot of time for his former employer and is keen not to get into a war of words with Whelan as he understands he is just trying to stick up for Martinez.

"I could respond but I'm not going to because I don't want it to blow up into something it doesn't have to be," he added.

"I had a great relationship with the Wigan chairman and the one thing he was good at was always trying to protect the manager whenever possible, so I haven't taken offence at what was said.

"I think he was just trying to take the heat off his manager and I can understand that."