Newcastle United journalist Mark Douglas has been sharing his criticism for Toon owner Mike Ashley and his decision to back Steve Bruce until the end of the season after their recent 3-0 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion.
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 range of topics concerning the Tyneside club.
After it was revealed that Ashley is planning to stick with Bruce as Newcastle’s manager due to his loyalty to the owner and passion for the club, Douglas had this to say on the matter.
He said: “The very notion that Steve Bruce is being rewarded for his loyalty is absolute nonsense.
“Steve Bruce came into this job because it was a fantastic opportunity for him. It was a Premier League job at a club where he’d wanted the job before.
“There’s no loyalty there, he took the job because it was a fantastic opportunity for him and for a year, he fulfilled the remit and we gave him credit for that, we sat here and said fair play to him, he has done a good job, but at the same time, now, we look at it and we say his race is run because the team are getting worse, they’re in relegation trouble.
“It’s a decent squad, in my opinion; it’s not a top-half squad necessarily, it’s definitely not a bottom-three squad.”
So far this season, Bruce’s side have won just seven of their 29 Premier League games, drawing seven and losing 15 throughout the campaign.
Goals from Danny Welbeck, Neal Maupay and Leandro Trossard secured the win for Brighton in Newcastle previous league game before the international break, leaving them in 17th place in the league table, two points above the relegation zone with nine league games left to play (per BBC Sport).
TIF Thoughts on Mark Douglas’ comments on Ashley’s backing of Bruce…
Given the position Newcastle currently find themselves in at this stage of the season under Bruce’s guidance, it’s understandable why Douglas isn’t happy with the fact that Ashley has publicly backed the manager.
Are you confident Bruce will keep Newcastle in the Premier League?
Yes
No
In our view, if Bruce fails to keep Newcastle in the Premier League by the end of the season – which looks like a real possibility at this moment in time – then Ashley will have to pay the price for putting his faith and confidence in the manager when he may have been better off hiring a new manager to take the team forward.
In other news: ‘Mental’, ‘Can only mean one thing’ – Many Newcastle fans flock to Lee Ryder’s post