CALLUM HAS NO CHANCE IN THIS NEGATIVE TEAM
Legend Mac blasts Bruce’s sinking Toon
TOON legend Malcolm Macdonald admits that he would turn the air blue in the Newcastle dressing room if he was playing in the current side.
Supermac has had enough of the sterile football under boss Steve Bruce.
With Bruce’s side facing another of Macdonald’s former clubs, Arsenal, tomorrow night, the Tyneside hero confesses that he wouldn’t want to swap places with Callum Wilson, the forward charged with bringing goals to Newcastle.
The side’s season reached its nadir on Tuesday night with defeat against rock-bottom Sheffield United, a game which saw Wilson and company fail to register one effort on target.
“If Callum Wilson wasn’t exploding in the dressing room after that, then he wants his backside kicked,” insisted Macdonald.
“He should have been screaming and shouting at the total lack of support. Everyone seemed to shrink backwards.
“If I was playing in that team, I would be doing my head in. As soon as I got in the dressing room, Steve Bruce wouldn’t have a chance of doing a team talk because I would be laying into people.
“As a forward, I relied on my midfielders and sometimes defenders to offer a supply route to goals. If that isn’t happening, then you can look an awful player. I wouldn’t tolerate that. I’ve watched Wilson chasing around, but there’s nothing going for him.
“Time and time again, the ball will go right back to the keeper. If that was happening when I was playing, there would be civil war in the dressing room. It’s so negative.”
Macdonald (above), still revered in the North East for his goal exploits in the Seventies before a move to Arsenal, could rely on Stewart Barrowclough and Terry Hibbitt, together with midfield masters Jimmy Smith and Terry Mcdermott, to provide the ammunition.
Newcastle have not won in eight games. But it is the negativity – Bruce (below) often starting with five at the back – which crushes Macdonald and a growing number of restless fans.
“What they are seeing is their manager putting up the white flag of surrender with his negative tactics before a ball is kicked,” said Macdonald.
“Steve Bruce is lucky that no one is able to get into the grounds to see games. With no fans allowed, he is getting away with absolute murder because there aren’t 52,000 Geordies screaming at him about the woeful standard of football.
“There’s nothing to look forward to. Newcastle can’t go into games with any confidence. There is now a serious risk of relegation. It’s not as if they are just losing to the top sides and beating the lower teams. They didn’t get a shot on goal in the Carabao Cup against Brentford or on Tuesday against Sheffield United
“It’s yet more embarrassments in a growing list this season.”
And Macdonald added: “I still don’t think Steve Bruce will go – even though the frustration amongst the supporters is building. But the Sheffield defeat has driven many fans to despair, wondering how much more they can take.”