The 2-0 win at Aston Villa on Saturday made them safe, Bruce presiding over a
remarkable turnabout since being appointed five months ago.
In that time, Latics have picked up 32 points from 23 games, climbing from second-bottom to 13th place.

A double strike from Antonio Valencia gave them the win over UEFA Cup spot-chasing Villa, who had scored 17 goals in their last four games.
Bruce kept his emotions in check at the final whistle,
turning to the directors' box to give the thumbs-up to
chairman Dave Whelan.
After a pat on the back for the players as they left the pitch, the Latics boss then saluted the 1,300 travelling fans.

He said: "I think it is the best thing I have done in
management.
"We looked dead and buried with Derby when I first came in, but credit to the players and the staff who came with me. Between us we have
managed to turn things round.
"We had the belief we could do it. I'm delighted for the chairman, who made a huge outlay for me and thank God I have repaid that.

"Mr Whelan forked out an unbelievable sum of money to bring me here. He had faith that I was the man for the job.
"He deserves his team to be in the Premier League. It's never easy to come into a club mid-season and have an immediate impact, so I'm pleased with how things have gone.
"The manner in which we finally made ourselves safe pleased me. We didn't rely on other results to do the job – we went to Villa and got the result we wanted. That was very satisfying."

It was something of a surprise result at Villa Park – only Latics' second away win of the season.
But after riding first-half pressure from Martin O'Neill's side, Bruce's men were a lot more positive in the second half.
Valencia's first goal took a big deflection off Villa left-back Wilfred Bouma but there was no arguing about the second, the Ecuador international powering his way through the hosts' defence to score.

Bruce said: "Valencia was always a big threat. He played exceptionally well and was prepared to dribble past people and take them on.
"Defensively, again we did well – you could see why we have been so hard to beat.

"We showed why we have stayed up.
"We are a good team – since December the lads have been magnificent.
"Arguably we picked one of best performances to cement our place in the Premier League, playing like that we deserve to be in the top flight.
"It was another good away performance. We did it at Liverpool and Chelsea, and we went to Villa and got a wonderful result."