Dugarry's goal is to deliver the Cantona encore

Birmingham's French enigma is determined to win his fight for respect as the snipers refuse to go away

Steve Bruce is standing at the back of a St Andrew's conference room. He is trying to make himself as small as possible while his first-team squad lap up the adulation of local kids, who have been invited to meet their heroes. It is not long, though, before Birmingham City's cherished manager is recognised and the queue for his signature forms.

Ever modest, Bruce tries to deflect the attention. "So, who's your favourite player?" he asks every autograph hunter. The answer is almost always the same. "Robbie Savage, eh?" he says, scrunching that weathered nose of his. Finally, a young boy offers an alternative. "Ahhh," Bruce nods in approval like a wine connoisseur, "at last someone mentions Christophe Dugarry."

In truth, the adult terrace talk has centred on nothing but the Frenchman since he arrived on loan from Bordeaux in mid-January. So far as the club faithful are concerned, Dugarry is going to dig the Blues out of trouble. Easier said than done, particularly for someone used to chasing silverware, but the player says he is up for the challenge. "Relegation battles are not something I am used to," admits Dugarry, who made his French First Division debut for Bordeaux at 17, "but I came here with my eyes open and I love the extra responsibility."

The most pressing task is to add to the club's paltry 23 League strikes. "I'm a centre-forward and I'll get the goals," Dugarry insists, "but I've been a midfielder [with Bordeaux and France] for the last three years, so it's naturally going to take me a little while to get my sensations back." The problem is that time is of the essence. "I know, I know," smiles Dugarry, whose five League matches have so far yielded just one point and no goals, "but it will come. Even my biggest critics, and there are plenty of those, would have to agree that my first five fixtures have been very tough [Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea at home, as well as Blackburn and Bolton away]. Trust me, I know my best performances are just around the corner." The visit of Liverpool today gives Dugarry the ideal platform to prove his doubters wrong.

While sections of the press and most away supporters have wasted no time in attacking Dugarry, everyone at Birmingham City, most of all Bruce, is still keeping the faith. Having played alongside Eric Cantona for four years, the former centre-back knows a fine vintage when he sees one. And few come more garlanded than this 1972 Bordeaux.

Dugarry, who was born in the small town of Lormont near Bordeaux, is a world and European champion, as well as a Uefa Cup finalist. "We were always aware that his game wasn't all about goals," Bruce says, "but we also knew that his mere presence in the team would give us something special. He's like Eric in that respect, because he is pure class. The only difference is that Christophe isn't surrounded by the same quality of players as Eric was at United. So if anything, he's having to work extra hard."

The similarities with Cantona do not end there. Footballing talents aside, Dugarry is also a figure of much derision in his native France. No matter that Bruce is the latest in a long list of distinguished managers – including Aimé Jacquet, Fabio Capello, Louis van Gaal, Roland Courbis, and Roger Lemerre – to believe in Dugarry, the striker continues to divide opinions.

The French media, and in particular the sports daily L'Equipe, maintain that he owes his 55 French caps to his long-standing friendship with Zinedine Zidane, while supporters have always questioned his commitment. With such a level of vitriol aimed at him, one wonders how Dugarry copes. "Perhaps I'm a football survivor," he says. "I've had wonderful highs and terrible lows during my career, but the one positive is that I've always emerged with my head held high."

On the field, Dugarry sometimes give the impression that he is detached and arrogant; off it, he is anything but. "I know my worth," says the man who has played for clubs such as Bordeaux, Marseille, Milan and Barcelona, "but I don't have ideas above my station. I'm not a brilliant footballer. I would say that I am an average-to-good player, who can do a job for a team. I've achieved a lot, but I would never get too big for my boots. My family and child are the most important things, and they prevent me from losing track of who I really am."

Dugarry is a genuine man, which is why the Blues' former Bleu cannot understand the hatred towards him. "There will always be boos and whistles," he says, shrugging his shoulders in that inimitable French way. "It's just one of those things. I don't let it worry me any more. Instead, I just try to do the maximum on the pitch. And nine times out of 10 I have no regrets after the match. I am not here to be popular across England and France; I am in Birmingham to be respected by my club's fans.

"There will always be idiots at other grounds who are more interested in picking on a player rather than supporting their team, but I honestly don't give a damn. All that matters is that I can look back proudly on what I've achieved."

Dugarry's strained relationship with the French footballing public is symptomatic of Gallic players who promise much and then fail to live up to the hype. Dugarry, for example, was announced as the new Jean-Pierre Papin when he arrived on the international scene in 1994. But when he did not score the goals, the criticism started. Cantona was "guilty" of the same crime, as was David Ginola. All three are supreme individual talents who have never gained acceptance as team members.

"At first, the criticism really hurt," Dugarry admits, "particularly because it always comes from people who don't know the first thing about you. To be honest, I wouldn't wish what happened to me on my worst enemy. But the one good thing is that everything that went on during the 1998 World Cup [when Dugarry was publicly vilified à la Beckham by the media] has made me almost immune. I have a thick skin these days and, until the day when I've been pushed too far, I'll keep going."

Such assurances will be music to the ears of Dugarry's ever-growing Birmingham fan club. "I'm going nowhere," he says, "and the thought of jumping ship has never crossed my mind. I have a job to do here, and I'm looking forward to showing everyone exactly what I can achieve in the Premiership."

From a vinicultural point of view, 1972 was an unusually poor year for Bordeaux. But in football terms, the city produced a classic.