Steve Brute

[huss9]

The sight of Mike Ashley’s so called “Three Wise Men” at St James’ Park on Tuesday night can hardly have improved Steve Bruce’s mood.

 

Whenever Newcastle’s managing director, Lee Charnley, is flanked by Keith Bishop and Justin Barnes, the club tends to be embroiled in one of its regular periods of crisis and the owner has a decision to make.

 

This week the London-based Bishop, a public relations executive, and Barnes, a lawyer turned corporate fixer, journeyed north on what their good friend Ashley would most definitely have classified as essential business.

 

Newcastle’s owner presumably required an urgent first-hand managerial scouting report from what would turn into a 2-1 home defeat by Leeds, stretching Bruce’s winless run to 11 games in all competitions. Of the past 27 Premier League points on offer only two have been collected, and Miguel Almirón’s goal on Tuesday was only their second in seven league games.

 

With last Saturday’s defeat at Aston Villa having prompted a group of supporters to break lockdown and unfurl a giant banner outside St James’ Park featuring the words “Act Late, Seal Your Fate” adjacent to images of Ashley and Bruce, the owner’s dilemma seems obvious.

 

It is also unusually complicated. As the UK waits for Boris Johnson to draft a roadmap out of lockdown at the end of next month, Newcastle fans know a potential watershed legal verdict is due around the same time. Ashley acted too late in switching managers before Newcastle’s relegations to the Championship in 2009 and 2016 but a retail tycoon with an apparently rare soft spot for Bruce does not want to make an expensive change until the lawyers have spoken.

 

Late February is the current best estimate for a resolution to the arbitration proceedings brought by Ashley against the Premier League for what he regards as its blocking of the club’s £305m sale to a Saudi Arabian-led consortium last summer. For some months now Ashley’s QCs, the sports specialist Nick De Marco and the international law expert Shaheed Fatima, have been working towards a resolution which could yet preface the controversial takeover happening after all.

 

With the thaw in international relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar likely to remove the obstacle previously represented by the former barring broadcasts from the Doha-based beIN Sports – a Premier League overseas rights holder – there is cautious optimism among those involved in the prospective buyout.

 

Should it proceed, there is a strong likelihood the new owners would want to reinstall Rafael Benítez as manager. Given that the Spaniard – who would not return under Ashley’s regime – has recently called time on a stint in China and his long-term confidant Owen Brown advises the consortium, Bruce is regarded as a glorified caretaker in some quarters.

 

Ashley’s dilemma is that the arbitration process could fail. Even if it succeeds, a Newcastle side currently 16th, but only six points clear of the bottom three, must face Everton, Chelsea and Manchester United away and Crystal Palace, Southampton and Wolves at home before February is over. A continued lack of wins would leave them in the sort of tailspin Benítez, Eddie Howe or anyone else could prove powerless to reverse. Although a fall into the second tier would not end Saudi interest it would substantially reduce the sale price.

 

Bruce remains adamant he can turn things round and cites an improved second-half performance against Leeds, which featured the return of the team’s creative talisman Allan Saint-Maximin following a two-month Covid-induced absence, as evidence of better times ahead.

 

Perhaps significantly he has been permitted to poach Graeme Jones from a first-team coaching role at Bournemouth and introduce the 50-year-old former Luton manager and Belgium No 2 as Newcastle’s “assistant head coach”.

 

No sooner had Jones joined a backroom already featuring Steve Agnew, Stephen Clemence and Steve Harper than he began talking about having “a direct input” in first-team affairs. Maybe the plan is simply to offer the squad a fresh voice that does not belong to a “Steve” but Ashley will seek swift evidence of improvement and Bruce knows it. His recent refusal to take questions from newspaper reporters allied to a sarcastic reference to “the Mighty Rafa” are indicative of a rattled manager.

 

When some Newcastle fans recently championed Howe’s coaching credentials, Bruce retorted with a barb about “the fella from Bournemouth who was relegated last season”. He is much better than that but Newcastle remains a job apart.

 

Indeed the post is so uniquely stressful that it once reduced one of his predecessors, Alan Pardew, to headbutting the former Ireland midfielder David Meyler during a match at Hull.

 

Given that Bruce was in charge of the Yorkshire side at the time he can hardly say he was not warned.

 

 

[Anon]

Only just clocked the entire management team is Steve

[nbthree3]

[Darth Crooks]

‘Keep bashing away’ ... ‘at that landmine, Steve.’

[St1pe]

Fuck off man

[healthyaddiction]

God, he's going to bring the letter's out like Carver showing off Colo's letter.

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

He'd have brought them in if they existed.

[Mattoon]

So he's gone from slagging the fans off to now saying they're unbelievable and send him letters? He'll be holding up a letter from ASM soon.

[Ashley17]

We should absolutely all send him a letter

[Mattoon]

We should absolutely all send him a letter

 

I'll start and send him the letter "F"

[Yorkie]

Carverdom achieved.

[et tu brute]

I would say he’s the most hated manager in the history of the club; and as we all know that’s some achievement when you think of some of the names we have had previously.

[STM]

Delusional.

[gdm]

We should absolutely all send him a letter

 

Haha imagine

[Mikky]

I can just copy and paste my letter to Santa

 

“Dear Santa (replace with Bruce), please can I have a de facto king to buy my football club and for him to bring a Spanish manager in, who preferably has a first name like Rafa or Rafael”

[Manxst]

People telling him to keep bashing away....at the steak bake mountain. We don’t want any post Christmas diet withdrawal problems occurring.

[gdm]

Luke Edwards has been busy this week then

[Mattoon]

Steve receiving 100 letters in Alex's handwriting

 

[Ketsbaia]

Like he's fucking Father Christmas

[TK-421]

 

[UncleBingo]

 

 

I'm trying to remember someone else who used to brag about the amount of letters he's had in the post this week, but the name escapes me.....

 

[Candi_Hills]

People have short memories. As reprehensible as Bruce is, we've had many gaffers who were far worse.

 

Dalglish destroyed Keegan's team in 18 months. You couldn't have done the demolition job faster if you tried.

 

Souness destroyed Robson's team in a similar time frame. He also oversaw some of the dodgiest transfer deals in the pre-Ashley era.

 

Pardew. We had five years of this slimeball sucking up to Mike, thanking himself for good results and ruining lads' careers. He also managed to set new records in the derby fixture and is the reason we'll have to listen to "6 in a row" until Saudi FC have drawn them 7 times in the cup.

 

Three boring charmless knackers who make Steve Bruce likeable by comparison.

 

 

[Pilko]

I got over 10,000 letters when I had my heart attack, I felt very proud of that and thought I did an excellent job.

 

"A lot of Geordies are influenced by the media set, because I stood up to 100 journalists that night. It was the same night we beat Tottenham 2-1. The journalists always had it in ... many of the Geordie fans were sucked in."

 

What is it with shit NUFC managers and make believe letters?

[r0cafella]

Steve receiving 100 letters in Alex's handwriting

 

 

[Lush Vlad]

 

 

Steve Bruce bashing away.