Newcastle may get rich quick but it’ll take time and patience before they can join the real big hitters

STEVE BRUCE looks like he is going to make it 1,000 games and out at Newcastle – but if the fans want a new messiah, they don’t grow on trees.

It is inevitable that 94.3 percent of supporters who said they wanted Bruce out in a Supporters’ Trust poll are going to have their wish granted.

Bruce’s position is untenable when such a huge proportion of the fanbase is against him and Newcastle have not won in seven Premier League games this season.

Even though the football has been a bit more expansive, results have not been good enough this term.

Winless streaks can’t go on for ever.

But at the risk of alienating the Toon army, Bruce deserves more credit than he’s been given for holding the fort.

To reach 1,000 games as a club manager is a phenomenal achievement.

Only 26 people have managed that milestone in English football, including Sir

Matt Busby, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Robson and Arsene Wenger. You don’t take charge of that many football matches if you don’t know what you’re doing.

And I still don’t understand why he is so disliked, with a 29.2 percent win ratio, when Rafa Benitez – a fantastic manager, no dispute – had only a marginally better win ratio (33 percent) in the top flight at Newcastle.

Admittedly, Bruce did spend more money than Rafa. But it is clear that Bruce was operating within tight financial margins in the last days of Mike Ashley’s reign as owner, while money will be no object for the next manager under the super-rich Saudi consortium. But who are they going to bring in? It will take someone of Kevin Keegan’s charisma 30 years ago to galvanise the fans as a standard-bearer.

Even the richest football club in the world may not be able to tempt Brendan Rodgers away from his project at Leicester. And some of the other names linked with Newcastle, including Antonio Conte, are by no means certain to jump on the first plane.

If it was my call, I would go for Steven Gerrard – a proven success at Rangers, a big name in every respect, and someone whose sheer force of personality could live with the ambition and grand designs of the new owners. But bringing world-class signings on the pitch to the North East will be even harder.

When Keegan was in his pomp, Newcastle were going headto-head with Manchester United for the title – and it was a two-horse race.

Manchester City were in the doldrums, Chelsea were only a cup side, Liverpool were in decline and Wenger hadn’t even got his feet under the table at Arsenal.

I see the fans dreaming of signing Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe, and it’s true Newcastle’s new owners could afford them.

But City, United, Chelsea and Liverpool are so powerful now they could all afford them, too – so why would Haaland or Mbappe go to Newcastle ahead of four clubs who can offer them Champions League football?

Football empires built on colossal wealth don’t happen overnight.

I remember City signing Brazil star Robinho as a major statement for £32million in 2008, but it was another four years before the title came to the Etihad.

Can Toon become a force in the title race? Given time, yes, but the bottom line is they do not have the same pulling power as Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.

Newcastle fans said they wanted Ashley out because they wanted hope.

Well, they have got hope now – and the celebrations which greeted the takeover were a graphic expression of their optimism.

But hope doesn’t win trophies. And maybe in years to come, some of the fans who hounded Bruce out will accept he did a decent job to keep the Magpies in the Premier League.