Complicated situation though and brings back memories of the Hodgson era here.
Rafa resigned at Newcastle just prior to pre-season of the 2019/2020 season with the all-too-familiar reasons that have followed him throughout his career. From memory he wanted assurances of funds to strengthen the squad but Ashley was keen to bring in Joelinton for 40m odd and not much else.
The fans were completely on Rafa’s side but the decision to hire Bruce was a ‘yes man’ manager for Ashley who just wanted someone to buy the team. It wasn’t as if Bruce was even close to being in demand having been sacked from Villa in the Championship and then a short stint at Sheffield Wednesday.
His style of play doesn’t give much of a platform for fans to get excited about. Then to make matters worse, his most high profile managerial job prior to Newcastle was an underwhelming couple of years at Sunderland…
The comments from Bruce are spot on, and he conducted himself brilliantly throughout his time at Newcastle. However, it was never going to work out with the fans and he was fully aware of that when taking the job.
The UK media’s coverage of sacking Bruce has been embarrassing to say the least and good on him for calling them out.
It’s interesting to compare Bruce’s record with Rafa’s last two seasons with Newcastle. They are pretty even, with the main difference being that under Rafa goal difference was much better.
IMO Bruce coasted for a while on the foundations Rafa built - many of Rafa’s signings are still key players in the squad and his defensive coaching kept them going for a while. It was notable whenever Bruce tried to change up the tactics they were shocking, and only improved after he reverted to the way Rafa had them playing.
A couple of seasons in those foundations have been eroded and they’ve been shocking under him, despite having two forwards in ASM and Wilson streets better than anything Rafa had available to him during his tenure (Rondon being about the best of a poor bunch).
So-so. Rafa was against the signings like Joelinton and Saint-Maximin, but some of his signings weren’t that great, either. We can agree that Rafa had a tougher job than Bruce, but Bruce still maintained more or less the same level with minimal to zero support from upstairs. He kept them out of the danger zone. Was never the man to carry them forward, but did his job I’d say better than most people predicted when he took over. Certainly didn’t deserve this hate, that is pure frustration and impatience/desperation from Newcastle fans.
I haven’t paid enough attention to Newcastle to say if Bruce is hard done by.
People would say the same about Roy Hodgson during his time here, but being aware of everything he said week in week out, I don’t think he ever endeared himself to the fans and never understood the club.
Be interesting to see who they go for and who ends up in the job, because I can’t imagine whoever their number 1 target is would come in now while they’re in a relegation battle.
I mean, I get it that someone like Rafa will be much more likeable than someone like Bruce. There are reasons for it. Reasons that have much more to do with what they did before Newcastle. Their reputations. But Newcastle fans are also exaggerating presenting this like Rafa is Pep and Bruce is I don’t know, a fat fan from the stands. There are also reasons why Rafa’s last 3 jobs post-Real have been Newcastle in trouble, a “project in China” and Everton. As much as we love him and as much as he wants to be close to home. It’s not like he rejected Real for a second time. I’m not saying he wouldn’t be able to coach a top side if you put him on one of those benches right now, coaches don’t suddenly drop like players can, but he’s also possibly past his best for a while now.
I think there’s quite a difference between what Liverpool were in 09/10 and 10/11 under Roy vs what Newcastle were under Rafa and under Bruce. Sure, our league form dropped massively in 09/10 compared to 08/09, the situation at the club was bad and toxic, ownership issues, players leaving, pieces slowly falling apart. But that was still a serious enough side (albeit near it’s very end, as it proved to be and probably accelerated by those changes with Rafa leaving), we were also a few minutes away from a European final (and probably a trophy, against Roy).
Bruce had a half decent record, considering the hand he was playing. The main problem was Ashley, who was choking the life out of the club. It’s why Rafa left, as he could have easily had them top half, maybe higher, with a bit of backing.
Bruce will feel hard done by the supporters, IMO. Ashley was crap. That’s a given. New owners have come in, and they will want their own man. That’s a given.
What doesn’t seem like cricket to me is the fact that Bruce is a Geordie and they gave him dogs abuse from the off. There was no sense of protection, respect, or appreciation for him… from his own people. Fine, you can hope for better as fans, but while you are in the trenches and fighting under an awful owner, you should stick together, and I thought Bruce was treated as an outsider, which seemed unfair to me.
Take your money and run. Someone said he should move somewhere warmer and relax and enjoy himself.
He’s spent money the first of his two seasons. Ashley didnt give him any money for the last season.
Rafa didnt get the same level of funding. Bruce did a good job with his limited capabilities. I’m not a fan of his tactics but whatever he did , he never could win over the highly toxic fanbase
Warnock is a werid one because though he is lumped in with the defensive managers but he isn’t actually that good at it so they are mostly a crap version of Burnley as they just end up with the thugs part.
