Newcastle United journalist Mark Douglas has been sharing his thoughts on Toon manager Steve Bruce and his current situation at St. James’ Park.
This comes after Douglas made an appearance on a recent episode of The Chronicle’s Everything Is Black & White Podcast where he spoke about a number of topics concerning the Tyneside club.
After seeing Newcastle fall to a 3-0 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion before the international break, Douglas had this to say about Bruce’s position as manager.
He said: “He should have gone on Sunday.
“He should have been gone on Sunday and they should have spent this week bringing in a candidate or giving Graeme Jones the chance to move on because his presence now, I think, is a problem.
“It’s a big problem for Newcastle because there’s too many players in that dressing room, I think, who are unhappy with the situation. The fans are unhappy, the pressure is building, they need a new voice, they need somebody to come in and do things differently.”
Bruce was appointed as Newcastle’s manager back in July 2019 and has since taken charge of 79 matches with the club, winning 24, drawing 20 and losing 35 along the way (per Transfermarkt).
Last season saw Bruce guide Newcastle to 13th place in the Premier League table with 44 points.
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TIF Thoughts on Mark Douglas’ comments on Bruce…
Taking into account Newcastle’s very poor run of form in the Premier League recently, with the club failing to win any of their six previous league games and in the midst of a relegation battle with nine games left to play, it’s understandable why Douglas thinks Bruce should have left the club after the Brighton defeat so they could use this international break to focus on how they can turn their form around and avoid relegation.
However, we have only seen three Premier League managers lose their jobs this season – which could perhaps be down to pay-offs they would be due to receive in such a scenario, and amid the financial strains brought on by the pandemic, perhaps the retention of Bruce is of little surprise.
Moving forward, Bruce will have to make sure he can motivate his players to put up a decent fight on the pitch throughout the remainder of the season so they don’t end up in the Championship next season.
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