The tragic death of Steve Bruce's fourth-month-old grandson has been ruled an accident by police. The former , and manager's daughter, Amy, gave birth to Madison last year alongside her ex-footballer husband Matt Smith.

The baby was found dead in his home last October, sparking a police investigation and the arrest of a woman in her 40s, who is believed to have been working as a nanny for the family, on suspicion of child neglect. But no further action will be taken, as a spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: "While the circumstances are tragic, we don't believe any criminality was linked to this death."

Blackpool manager Bruce took compassionate leave in October to spend time with his family and only returned to the dugout in December. His son, Alex, also took a temporary step back from his coaching role at Salford City, where brother-in-law Smith finished his playing career last year.

In a recent interview with , Bruce admitted he considered quitting football altogether in the wake of the family tragedy. "There were times when I thought about not coming back," he said.

"I'm sure people would've totally understood, but sometimes football has given me a little bit of an escape from it all. There's still not a day where it doesn't affect you. I still find Friday a difficult day because that's when it happened. Even though it's a day before a game, when you're building up, I find Fridays so difficult.

"It's been the tragedy of all tragedies. Anyone going through the same sort of grief, I feel for them. It's horrendous that a fine, young, healthy baby boy doesn't wake up one morning. We'll never come to terms with that. It's agony."

Bruce has talked up the support of senior figures at Bloomfield Road, who allowed him to take time off less than two months after his appointment. The 64-year-old had been out of the professional game for two years prior to landing at Blackpool, with a long break following his brief stint at West Bromwich Albion.

A centre-back who made more than 400 appearances for during his playing days, Bruce has overseen more than 1,000 games since beginning his management career in 1998, which has taken in spells with 13 different clubs across the top three divisions of English football.