Chris Waugh has been speaking on the Pod on the Tyne podcast about Steve Bruce’s reported holiday and the reasoning he may have had behind it.
There has been a lot of tension at Newcastle United over the past week or two with reports claiming that Bruce took a holiday to Portugal during the international break despite the Magpies remaining winless and that appeared to boil over after the Manchester United defeat as he ‘snapped back at questions’ from reporters.
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Bruce is not alone in attempting to defend his actions, with Simon Jordan speaking about the manager on TalkSport and said how he should leave because of the job he has already done for the Magpies, which is finishing as high as 12th in two seasons.
Waugh spoke about Bruce’s holiday debacle (30:31):
“There may be an argument, as people close to Bruce would say that he needs a break because he didn’t get what he wanted during the international break, he just need to switch off for a few days, he didn’t get what he wanted from the window.
“Fine, but come out and try and at least make that argument, don’t make it seem as if it’s not a relevant question when your team is in the bottom three, ou haven’t won a game yet, you’ve been knocked out of the League Cup, things are going wrong.”
TIF Thoughts on Bruce…
Despite people such as Jordan and Telegraph journalist Luke Edwards claiming that Bruce has done his job on Tyneside, it appears not to be enough for Newcastle fans, his win percentage has now dropped to just 30.1%, this despite spending over £125 million during his time as Newcastle boss (according to Transfermarkt).
It is not just the win percentage that highlights why Newcastle fans are angry with Bruce, it’s also the defeats they’ve sustained such as giving Sheffield United their first win of last season, losing to then Championship side Brentford in the Carabao Cup quarter-final and falling to a 3-0 defeat away to Brighton all last season.
His outburst at Old Trafford which saw him call out The Chronicle and Newcastle fans, will not have helped his relationship with the fanbase, saying that supporters are negative towards him and the club because of what they read, potentially suggesting that they can’t make up their own minds.