Steve Brute

[ToonArmy1892]

You would think we were second in the league the way some people are gannin on.

 

4 points above the relegation zone.

 

And you would think we were bottom of the league the some people are gannin on.

 

4 points below 5th.

 

That said, I understand and share many of the concerns. You look at it however you want I suppose.

 

If you have a top manager like Rafa you look up in this situation, when you have an average one (being kind) you can only look down.

 

Everyone knows it's turning to s*** at some point, even his buddies giving him support in the media.

[TRon]

What exactly is it, other than taking the job (which he was always going to do) and not being Rafa, that Bruce has done wrong? I’ve never rated him and he’s a Geordie only when it suits but he’s doing better than expected.

 

He’s tried 4 at the back and reverted back after 1 game, he’s been tactically shown up a couple of times but he’s also got every player putting their all in, they’re disciplined and organised. It can quickly go to shit once a manager leaves but that hasn’t happened, we’re currently operating with a different and weaker back 5 to last year and we’ve lost Perez and Rondon.

 

From the outside looking in you can understand the praise he’s getting and frankly some of the criticism he gets on here is simply not warranted. Having a cabbage face, looking like a tramp and using Rafa’s tactics are not valid, the squad was assembled for the tactics being used and if we still had Rondon we’d be a good few points ahead of where we are.

 

It will turn to shit, either the players will lose the drills put into them by Rafa or Bruce (the club) will buy the wrong players or probably a combination of both but for now Bruce is doing fine.

 

This doesn’t mean that a majority of fans are complicit or supportive of Ashley, some will be, others are simply looking at how the team are doing.

 

Ashley is the disease, get him out, we could do the double and most fans would want him out. Attendances are down the atmosphere is non existent so Ashley knows the score. He’ll only ever go on his terms and so far he’s been getting a far too easy a ride.

 

The manager and team should be looked at and commented upon judged on what they are doing on the pitch, the club on the other hand should be judged on the owner and the one constant there is that he’s a twat, always will be and he’ll never let the club be the best version of itself. It frustrates the hell out of me that people say, yes but Bruce is the face of Ashley, no he’s not, he’s a manager trying to do his best and getting pelters for it. Where’s Ashley Out, where’s the protests against the owner for what he’s really doing? He let Rafa go, he’s a proven liar, he’ll not invest in improving infrastructure, he’s selling land and he’s ambition for the team is to avoid relegation.

 

Bruce - yeah he’s the problem.

 

 

This is what I can't stand from the Bruce apologists. Even in that long and passionate complaint about Bruce critics, you yourself have said in there that it will turn to shit.

 

Well that is precisely what is wrong with him. No one has the balls to say "I am defending Bruce because he is a good manager".

[Happinesstan]

Bruce is gone.

 

Oh hang on.

 

Sorry it's Caitlyn.

[LV]

Bruce deserves credit for the season so far, find it remarkable people are saying it's all down to Benitez though, have a worse team than last season as lost Rondon and Perez and would be even higher now if them two were still here playing up front with Maxi, dont expect it to last but Bruce is certainly making a fool out of a lot of people so far( me included).

 

Top trolling

[Guest covmag]

You would think we were second in the league the way some people are gannin on.

 

4 points above the relegation zone.

 

No it’s killing some that he hasn’t got us looking relegated yet, like you.

[Guest covmag]

You would think we were second in the league the way some people are gannin on.

 

4 points above the relegation zone.

 

And you would think we were bottom of the league the some people are gannin on.

 

4 points below 5th.

 

That said, I understand and share many of the concerns. You look at it however you want I suppose.

 

If you have a top manager like Rafa you look up in this situation, when you have an average one (being kind) you can only look down.

 

Everyone knows it's turning to s*** at some point, even his buddies giving him support in the media.

 

 

Rafa has gone man, deal with it, dry ya fucking eyes whinging about it all day every fucking day man, you might just like life.

[ToonArmy1892]

Rather cute how obsessed you are with me.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

I could get behind Bruce, but this is Pardew all over again and if not this season, we’ll see the same old same old unfold in the very near future. Any positive right now is and always will be the exception to the rule when you have a shit combination of manager and owner and a recruitment set up that focuses on signing players with no real thought towards building and developing a squad. Even under Rafa, as long as ?????? is the owner, not going down/mid-table finishes is always gonna be as good as it gets until he goes. If this is Bruce doing well, wait until we see the opposite...

 

 

[huss9]

needs to get schar back in on the right and dummet (or clark) out.

would help us creatively no end.

[Ikon]

You would like to think so, at home against Southampton, that we play Schär from the start (finally).

[jackyboy]

Won't be long before some of the better players are being sold by MA as has always happened in the past.

[DJ_NUFC]

Would be interesting to see how he reacts when he’s treated the same way as other managers have been by MA and LC in successive transfer windows. Will he have the balls to kick up a fuss like Rafa, or will he dedicate wins to “Mike,” like Pardew?

[Tribesman]

https://twitter.com/lee_ryder/status/1203665822134284289

 

He has changed one player which is more or less forced on him because of Carroll's injury problems. 

[TRon]

Manager is proving his critics wrong after a desperate start on Tyneside

 

When Steve Bruce looked towards the jubilant travelling support at Bramall Lane on Thursday night and raised a hand, it was like a couple making up after a row. “Are we OK? Yes, great, we’re OK,” he might have said.

 

There was a roar from the 3,000 Newcastle United fans in the HE Barnes Lower Stand. It appeared that Bruce and the Newcastle fans had had their first real moment.

 

It was all about the contrast. More than two months earlier, after a 5-0 defeat away to Leicester City, the aeroplane from East Midlands airport had been silent. At the front Bruce was incandescent. Sean Longstaff had called the performance “f***ing embarrassing”; Andy Carroll had called for his new teammates to hang their heads in shame.

 

Seventy-four days had passed since Bruce’s appointment as the successor to Rafa Benitez. It had been incorrectly reported that he was 13th choice. He was not, but nor was he the first.

 

Although the defeat at the King Power Stadium was not quite breaking point — the controversial owner Mike Ashley is actually patient with his managers — it felt like a low. After seven Premier League games and one EFL Cup tie, there had been only one victory.

 

It was a desperate time and Bruce used a desperate measure. He called his players out. “It was a complete surrender,” he told the nation on television straight after the defeat. “It was nowhere near what is required.

 

“Too many felt sorry for themselves. The team has to play with a bit of determination, passion and heart, before we talk about tactics. Unfortunately I can’t defend it.”

 

It felt huge as soon as he said it. It was harsh and it was in the public domain. The next day off was cancelled and all first-team players were called into training. There were talks between managerial staff and players to clear the air — something had to change. Newcastle had started the previous season under Benitez badly, but the club felt more cohesive.

 

 

After seven league games under Bruce, Newcastle had five points and were second bottom. It was hard to reconcile that fury and fragmentation as Bruce waved to the club’s fans on Thursday night. “Last man standing?” he laughed. “I just wanted to say thanks to them, they came down in their thousands against Aston Villa and Sheffield United and I’m delighted we’ve given them something to shout about. I’m enjoying the challenge.”

 

It is important to assess the sequence of results that followed Leicester and Bruce’s impact, his attempt to move the team away from their reliance on Benitez’s work. Changing tactics, moving away from the resolute three central defenders, remains a long-term desire, but he has tempered that ambition for now. It is evolution, not revolution. He dropped Jonjo Shelvey for the subsequent game against Manchester United after the 5-0 defeat and was rewarded with a goal from Matty Longstaff, the Geordie youngster making his debut, and more importantly, a victory. That bought time.

 

Longstaff has hardly played since and the ever-moving landscape of a footballer has meant that Shelvey has gone from looking like his career was ending at the club to scoring three times in the last five games.

 

There have been four victories in eight games since the Leicester defeat, with two draws and two losses. In those games Bruce and his Newcastle side have taken 14 points, rising to 11th on Thursday evening after the victory over Chris Wilder’s side, with 19 points in total. Curiously it was January 19 before that total was reached last season, in game 23, after a 3-0 win over Cardiff City.

 

“In your real tough times, the only thing you can do as a manager is say, ‘How can I get them to react?’” said Bruce. “We needed a reaction to it and it can’t be another performance like that. Otherwise, everybody is in trouble. I think that’s when you earn your dough.”

 

Players are buying into his methods. There is little mention of Benitez any more. It is said by those inside the training ground that a siege mentality emerged after that loss. Bruce has made much of the inclusivity of spirit in that key part of the club, where the mood can impact upon the team.

 

“For me, the working environment is the most important,” Bruce said. “From the press lads to the caretakers to the people who clean to the chefs, to everyone concerned.

 

“I want them to come into work and enjoy coming into work, and that goes for the players too. If you enjoy coming to work you’re going to get the best out of people

 

“The players have bought into what we’ve tried to do. We’ve still got a long way to go, we’ve still got to be a little bit more fluid at the top end of the pitch, but we’ll keep working on that.

 

“The most important thing for me is trying to recreate a spirit. The spirit amongst the players and the way they’re playing and their attitude has delighted me. They carried it on against Sheffield United after running a million miles against Manchester City.

 

“When do I start feeling vindicated? That doesn’t interest me. I’m not looking for any Brownie points like that. Listen, I’ve been given a wonderful opportunity. I’ve said that from day one and I hope I can prove a few people wrong but there is still a long way to go.”

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/how-steve-bruce-used-public-humiliation-to-rally-players-and-win-over-newcastle-fans-tjjqhbckr

 

 

 

 

Ashley has won.

[geordie john]

 

 

Close the curtains, lock the doors, switch off the lights........

 

...there is no point any more.

 

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

Wonder what he’s considering doing to make this a bit less shit - or is he just thinking about inhaling his half-time selection box?

[Yorkie]

John Carver used to say "Listen," a lot. Was quite annoying. That's my take-away from that batch of rent-a-quotes.

 

Whatever, Steve. Glad he's enjoying his challenge. Wish I was.

[TRon]

He's got the press lads onside. That was my takeaway from that article, although it didn't really need to be spelled out. Nice to see it spelled out anyway though.

[Yorkie]

The press has been on his side from Day One. The majority of the media decided the supporters were out to get him from the get-go; notwishstanding the fact that the travelling support at pre-season games were asking for a wave. There's been a bit of 'hearty underdog' flavour to the majority of Bruce coverage since he arrived.

 

It feels like this forum is literally the only corner of the fanbase which is giving him any sustained level of grief.

[Mr Logic]

Martin 'fucking' Hardy.

[Guest covmag]

9th....just saying .

[toon25]

Gets results by luck more than judgement. He’s fucking useless.

[Guest dabe]

9th....just saying .

 

[Stifler]

Gets results by luck more than judgement. He’s fucking useless.

This.

[Stifler]

The press has been on his side from Day One. The majority of the media decided the supporters were out to get him from the get-go; notwishstanding the fact that the travelling support at pre-season games were asking for a wave. There's been a bit of 'hearty underdog' flavour to the majority of Bruce coverage since he arrived.

 

It feels like this forum is literally the only corner of the fanbase which is giving him any sustained level of grief.

I’ve honestly not met 1 fan who rates him. Everyone knows that if we get results it’s down to luck and whatever Rafa training methods are still in their mind.

 

Shocking that managers like him get put up for jobs at clubs like ours and backed by the media, yet theirs not a fucking chance they would have any of them at one of their favoured clubs, heck they even hound out the good ones who have a bad spell of form.