Steve Bruce has arrived at Newcastle United as speculation over his future continues to mount. The head coach survived Monday in which Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi met with the players and coaching staff.
Here is a video of Bruce arriving at the training ground this morning looking very much like he’ll take part in today’s training.
? Steve Bruce has arrived at Newcastle's training ground this morning amidst speculation regarding his future pic.twitter.com/zu7zHhPmBi
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 12, 2021
It has been widely speculated that Bruce will be relieved of his duties at some point this week. The new owners are currently working to complete a list of candidates, which seems to be growing daily.
Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers and Rangers’ boss Steven Gerrard were two of the first names broached when the takeover was completed last Thursday.
Graham Potter was also touted as a potential candidate last week. The Brighton manager has guided The Seagulls up to 6th place in the table this season.
The list was always going to include some managers currently out of jobs. Antonio Conte has been tentatively linked, however, his demands may him a fringe option at this point.
Eddie Howe has also been linked but not as strong as one would expect. The former Bournemouth boss is reportedly waiting to see what happens at Southampton so may not be interested in spearheading Newcastle’s rebuild.
Two available managers that have been on the rise of late are former Dortmund manager Lucien Favre and Premier League legend Frank Lampard. Favre is reportedly keen on the position and previously signed Allan Saint-Maximin when with Nice.
Lampard is slowly turning from an under-the-radar candidate into a leading contender. He has received some support from pundits with former Rangers striker Ally McCoist saying the following on talkSPORT:
“They’ll go about it in the right way and I don’t have a problem with them going for a young coach like Frank Lampard.
“I think he’s one hundred per cent good enough for the Newcastle job.”
Lampard was a surprise appointment at Stamford Bridge in 2019 after a brief but promising spell with Derby in The Championship. In his first season, he finished fourth in the table.
However, things unraveled last season after Chelsea spent £200m on transfers in the summer. Lampard couldn’t get The Blues going and was replaced by Thomas Tuchel in January.
Late on Monday, Louise Taylor in The Guardian added the names of Erik ten Hag and Roberto Martinez to Newcastle’s list of candidates.
The Chronicle is reporting that the Ajax boss and the Belgium National team manager are both very interested in the position. Martinez has recently been linked with replacing Ronald Koeman at Barcelona.
It remains to be seen how much longer Bruce remains at the helm as the list of his potential replacements gets finalized. The 60-year-old arrived today in his Newcastle tracksuit so it appears he will be at least taking part in the morning session.
The day after the takeover was confirmed, Wor Flags announced they would be back at St. James’ Park and were working to get a display ready for Sunday.
The group had been boycotting but vowed a return once Ashley sold the club. Here is an inspirational video they have just released.
— Wor Flags ?? (@worflags) October 12, 2021
64 comments so far
sparky55
Oct 12, 2021 at 11:55 AM
Comment #41THIS IS FUNNY!
https://www.football365.com/news/mailbox-ole-gunnar-solskjaer-steve-bruce-man-utd-newcastle
Onwards and upwards!
Sheikh rattle and roll 🙂
geordietom
Oct 12, 2021 at 11:55 AM
Comment #42munster glad you liked it make sure you pass it on 😆
Lovem Hatem
Oct 12, 2021 at 11:58 AM
Comment #43I think we need to sort a DoF first.
Options seem to be:
Luis Campos – available, worked at Monaco and Lille
Ralf Rangnick – contact with Lokomotiv Moscow
Antero Henrique – available, worked at Porto and PSG
Don’t know which one would be best for NUFC but once a DoF has been selected, the manager will follow.
cleveleysbob
Oct 12, 2021 at 11:59 AM
Comment #44I suspect (an opinion) that at the moment, Jones may be giving some insight to the consortium about defensive coaches. Having worked with England, he’ll have seen 1st hand how they go about things, let’s face it, England’s defence is pretty dam good these days, they rarely let any in!! – there could be someone in that set up who is just what we need to plug the leaks. 🙂
Ron Knee
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:08 PM
Comment #45@43
Sounds sensible.
sparky55
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:08 PM
Comment #46@44…A decent midfield in front of them to protect and serve would also be a start. We seem very off the pace in closing down the opposition midfield…that I believe is our main problem.
If fact I would go on to say I believe our back line is a better unit than our midfield, and if we got in a couple of good midfielders who know how to defend and track, then I think we would concede less as a result.
IMO
Onwards and upwards!
Sheikh rattle and roll 🙂
check the toastie
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:09 PM
Comment #47I am concerned Shearer has the ear of the new owners, he’s big pals with Bruce and actually believe he may advise them against replacing him pronto. Hope my fears are simply mild paranoia regards Bruce staying on. Would be a horrific initial decision that could very well see us go down. Thanks Shearer yer legend. Hope im wrong.
outside the box
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:09 PM
Comment #48wouldn,t be surprised to new training ground located sandy road /gosforth park and in future benton training ground taken over by rueben bros.
Tyran21
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:11 PM
Comment #49Ironically, bit defensive minded is what cost England the Euro.
Munster Mag
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:12 PM
Comment #50Certainly the stories about Favre at the end of Dortmund wudnt be encouraging. But there again, the stories at the end are rarely pleasant?
RobLeenio
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:16 PM
Comment #51Morning all, I hope we’ve all managed to shake off our hangovers by now?
Talking of hangovers, Steve Bruce is still here as a reminder of what was terrible from the last regime. I doubt that’s going to last long, but I do think it could last a little while yet. Here’s my reasoning.
The new regime are no doubt very aware that they don’t have a great image outside Newcastle fans. If they were to come in and ditch a manager who seems to be well liked and respected by a good percentage of the UK football community, they would risk tarnishing that image even further.
Secondly, by ditching Bruce, they would also ditch certain of his coaching team, particularly Steve Agnew and Steve Clemence. That would leave us short-handed in terms of personnel to prepare the team for Sunday.
However, if they leave Bruce and his team in place, but suggest to him that they are looking to replace him. He gets to announce his resignation after the Spurs game as he knows his position is untenable long-term, but that he’s staying on until a new permanent appointment has been made.
Bruce and his team get to walk away with heads held high, reputations intact and the consortium don’t get vilified for an ‘unduly’ harsh attitude and accused of throwing their weight around.
I’m not sure that this is the actual thought process or approach, but it does seem possible, despite the desires of the NUFC fans to see him out on his backside asap.
duncandisorderly
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:22 PM
Comment #52Can’t say Lampard would be my 1st choice, given his lack of track record. But what do I know?!
Adamn_92
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:23 PM
Comment #53The longer it goes the more I’m worried about Bruce being there Sunday 🙁
SholaShow
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:26 PM
Comment #54If it was between Howe, Gerrard and Lampard I’d select Lampard, but the likes of Favre, Rodgers are different class and I’d also take Martinez ahead of him.
Had a good read of Martinez’ history this morning because I know how narratives take hold and then they become conventional wisdom. Nuance goes out the window.
He did perfectly well at Everton 5th (points total better than Moyes ever achieved for them), 11th, 11th and a couple of semi-finals – in line with what every other manager has done there since pretty much, despite some having much more to spend.
Not convinced about this Belgian golden generation either. He’s done about what you would expect with them, not failed, not excelled, a few world-class players but the supporting cast isn’t as strong as a Spain, Italy, England or France.
Attacking possession based football, Jones the natural trusted bridge to get him up to speed and fill him in on players quickly etc, good age where he’s surely still being learning over the last 5 years with Belgium.
Still stick my money on him, especially after his little smirk when being asked about it post-match. His mouth said the right words in a sternly professional manner, but he struggled to stop a smile from breaking out – https://twitter.com/NUFCblogcouk/status/1446383319957057567
Just needs to admit his fatal flaw and get a world-class defensive coach in.
SuperShearer
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:28 PM
Comment #55@RobLeenio – that’s a good shout. The new owners have made it clear time after time they want to do things the right way. Unless they know who is going to replace Bruce I think they will keep him on until they have a replacement lined up and ready to announce.
The word on the street is the takeover happened quite out of the blue for Amanda – it was suddenly on so they haven’t had time to make plans and the footballing world has moved on – ie, Rafa is no longer available. So they need to get the right man in. My biggest concern is Bruce has NEVER been good enough. If he sticks around too long then we could still be in a relegation fight come January.
The next 24 hours will tell us if he’s sticking around or not. But being honest, is Lampard better equipped to get us out of this situation than Bruce? I would argue he’s not. So it’s about getting the right person in to get us out of the drop ASAP.
Unused Substitute
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:29 PM
Comment #56Farm’s dismissal from Dortmund was just a knee jerk decision. Overall he was doing much better at Dortmund than he ever did in his managerial career.
griff
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:30 PM
Comment #57It’s been a couple of years in between posts.
With respect to Bruce or new Manager, DoF and whether things happen today, tomorrow or even next week. Even (gasp) relegation. It is immaterial.
We are Newcastle. We are United. We have new owners. And we will thrive.
cleveleysbob
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:30 PM
Comment #58Check, don’t think we need to worry about Shearer, he advised Bruce against taking the job, so I suspect he’s advising him and consortium that now’s the time to go. 🙂
Ashingtoon62
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:31 PM
Comment #59The only funny Scouser comment in Tom’s post was..”We all know, that the Fenway sports group don’t like to spend!”
Comedy footing gold that man! I wonder what he would think of a £140m net spend ower 14 years? 😆
marshy
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:34 PM
Comment #60bruce should have been sacked on the day of the takeover and jones in as temp measure until a really good manager is found who will take the job.
SholaShow
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:35 PM
Comment #61Lampard is amply more equipped to get us out of the mess Bruce has created than Bruce is.
magscar
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:58 PM
Comment #62Just caught up on more than a days worth of posts – company yesterday and out this morning – would normaly have taken lesthan an hour especially with skipping
Nothing definite to see amid even more speculation not only on who’s coming but is he staying
I’ve a growing feeling that we need more than a holding statement in the strange limbo we have been thrown into by an unexpectedly early win on Takeover
Some fans (at least on here) are becoming restless and can’t see the logic in the lack of clarity on Mangerial situation as the dust is settling – is he here or isn’t he – just let us know which
Sorry to see a squabble emerge over sincere comments on Bruce from 2 respected poster but worse really was the hearting of one of them (which said poater didn’t seem to want)
I know there was no campaign involved but it merely highlightrd to me a feeling that we are struggling to move on together as the initial eurphoria has dampened
Words on a page are different to how some would come across in a conversation between posters face to face and I wish allowances could be made for that when not agreeing to a post especially post Ashley
A new direction though stated in broad terms still hasn’t been fleshed out in terms of the very first step and we see Bruce apparently arriving to take training – his last stand?
I did like the thought that he may have been alowed to leave unnoticed yesterday ( others want a public humiliation – fine)
We shouldn’t be restless but it seems we are
I’m still happy to wait and trust but not all ar and it’s our personal take so no right or wrog opinion
Harley
Oct 12, 2021 at 12:59 PM
Comment #63Good god please not lampard.
Look what happened with Chelsea when they sacked him and got a proper manager in. We need to be looking at a much higher calibre than Lampard.
ArtyH
Oct 12, 2021 at 1:03 PM
Comment #64Maybe the PIF are going to give him Sunday as a test and to claim they gave him a chance. He should be told, if you loose on Sunday you must walk away with no compo! You can leave now with the compo but you must say its by mutual consent! After we loose on Sunday the new guys can justifiably say we gave him the chance. I think the only chance we have of the 3 points is if he is long gone! Problem is, do PIF think they can gamble the 3 point on cabbage? There are so many things to consider. As I said before he is not the manager so bringing in a MANAGER is not against his job description. The manager could then redefine his role and maybe make him head coach for the women’s team, then he sees out his contract or resigns, no compo and no need to find a coach for the new female team which Amanda seems to be making a priority, its win win!