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…)
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…)
Joelinton scoring Newcastle’s first goal of the season. After such a poor performance against Norwich, even the most optimistic fan would be forgiven for thinking that the Toon might be lucky to even pick up one point against Champions League finalists Tottenham on their own turf, let alone three as they did, with Joelinton’s well taken goal separating the sides. However, does the solid performance against the Champions League finalists mean redemption for Steve Bruce?
After two lost games using Steve Bruce’s preferred 3-5-2 formation it was obvious that things weren’t working and at the start it seemed that Bruce’s team had come out with more attacking intent this time with a formation which looked more like an attacking 3-4-3 with Joelinton leading the line alongside Almiron and Saint-Maximin. (more…)
A rare shot of Ashley and Benitez together. Rafa Benitez is undoubtedly one of the most likeable and professional managers in football. Despite operating under one of the tightest budgets in the Premier League, the Spaniard produced a minor miracle in guiding The Magpies to a 13th place finish last campaign and 10th the season before that. After their less than acrimonious split over the summer, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley and managing director Lee Charnley are now locked in a war of words with Rafa Benitez which has so far involved back and forth insults, accusations and other general playground antics. But is Mike Ashley really the bad guy in all of this? Or does Rafa have to take some responsibility for his own actions? (more…)
Ayoze Perez in his new Leicester colours. It’s worrying times if you are a Newcastle United fan. Not only has Mike Ashley been unable to keep Rafa Benitez at the club, with the Spaniard agreeing to become Dalian Yifang’s new manager, but Ayoze Perez has left, signing for Leicester City for no less than £30 million.
But will the second big departure of the summer result in several other key players vacating St James Park? Sean Longstaff has been linked continuously with Manchester United. It has been widely reported that Longstaff’s representatives have met with Manchester United to discuss a possible move this summer. (more…)
