Bruce: No respect at all. He’s the Rodney Dangerfield of football, Rodney Dangerfield being the famous American comedian whose catchphrase was ‘I get no respect, no respect at all!’ But meanwhile, despite all the moaning, considering the resources at his disposal, Newcastle are actually doing as well as can be expected, at the least, they certainly aren’t doing badly.
In their first ten games, Newcastle have won 14 points with a 40% win percentage, not the greatest until you consider that in 2019/20 they’d only won 3 points, and before that, Benitez only won 3 too, though he equalled Bruce’s first ten game total in our first season after promotion. Bruce and Benitez have had similar league finishes, both have played a similar style, counterattacking football with a big target man up front which isn’t the most exciting to watch, and yet one was almost worshipped and the other is treated with disdain, but why? (more…)
Our play might be boring, but Bruce has made some good signings The 2020-21 Premier League season is well underway and this year’s Newcastle squad has a very different feel to last season. In classic Newcastle fashion though, despite the promise of a newly formed squad, results have been mixed. It’s best to seek guidance and opinion from professionals when trying to predict any fixture in the Premier League this season, but this is especially true of the Toon Army given their revised attacking options.
Bruce himself has come under criticism and pressure from fans since joining the club, and many have questioned the transfers brought into Newcastle in recent years, with Mike Ashley usually the first to be blamed. The Newcastle Chairman has given the club a cash injection under Bruce’s tenure, and it’s fair to say that the jury is still out on most of the recruitment. (more…)
Steve Bruce: Not a lot of respect from fans. In a recent interview with Natalie Gedra for Brazilian ESPN, Newcastle United forward, Joelinton, spoke about several aspects of his time on Tyneside. One of those was his observations about the fans’ treatment of Steve Bruce since he became the Magpies’ manager in July 2019. On this he said:
“When he [Bruce] arrived, he came under a lot of pressure, part of the crowd didn’t want him because of his old work. A nice guy, a hard worker, but who demands, and is a friend, always with word of encouragement. The fans acted badly with him as soon as he arrived. He’s doing his best. For me, he’s a great coach.”
To say that Bruce’s welcome after the departure of Benitez was ‘muted’ would be an understatement, it was verging on hostile. Even now, after a 3-0 victory against a team (Sheffield United) who were 5th in the Premier League, and the second best behind Liverpool in terms of goals conceeded going into the game, a fan on this site reacted to the Magpies’ performance as follows: (more…)
Bruce and Chopra: No love lost. Ex-Newcastle United forward Michael Chopra insists current Magpies boss Steve Bruce doesn’t play football “the Newcastle way” as he urges the club to bring back Rafael Benitez.
Despite keeping the Magpies safe in mid-table like his predecessor, getting into the quarter finals of the FA Cup before football was so rudely interrupted as well as getting some positive results against big clubs, such as home wins over Manchester United and Chelsea in the Premier League, North-East born Bruce still hasn’t managed to win over the Newcastle faithful this season with his defensive style. (more…)
Newcastle United: A long history of great centre forwards. With the long pause in Premier League action, I thought it might be a good time to go down memory lane and look at some of our favourite players from times past, so I have decided to list five of the top strikers in Newcastle United’s history. All the players selected played at least 150 games for the Magpies at the highest level, which means that great, but more fleeting Newcastle centre forwards such as Albert Shepherd, Albert Stubbins, Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand etc have not been included. The players are listed in chronological order, starting with the most recent players and going backwards in time. (more…)
