TOON TURMOIL
Academy boss stood down amid wife’s dispute with club
JR: Then you go to west ham. JW: an easy decision. as a west ham fan growing up, it was my dream to play for them. I’m thankful I had that chance and got to know the people there. of course, I wish it had gone differently but again, injuries killed me and I didn’t learn from my past. I overdid it in the first five weeks there.
You know what it’s like being at a new club. You want to train every day with the lads, play as much as you can. david Moyes was always honest with me and that’s all any player can ask.
WILSHERE is fully fit now, having spent the pre-Christmas lockdown running in his local park with his dog. Families out for their stroll did double takes, but wilshere was without a club and had to keep fit. JW: Maybe I’d always taken it for granted — the facilities I’ve had as a footballer. all of a sudden I was in the unknown. It gave me that hunger to want to come back. I never lost faith, never thought, ‘This could be the end’. I backed myself. when I picked up the phone to (former Bournemouth boss) Jason Tindall, I just wanted to come here to train. But as soon as I walked through the door, it felt natural. JR: Maybe that took you back to basics. It’s like when we were kids scrapping to become footballers. If I see a new pair of nikes now, I’m adding them to the shopping cart for my boy! when I was a kid my dad would tell me to get a paper round to save up for new boots. JW: I remember being at arsenal, 10 years old and we’re going away for a tournament. on the way to dropping me off, my dad stops and buys me a pair of Vapors. Remember them? They were £140! he was like: ‘don’t tell your mum’. our first game in holland, I come off after 10 minutes. Blisters. Massive. Mum was there. She didn’t talk to dad for a week. JR: My dad’s been helping out at Bournemouth as you know. he phoned me to say you’d said thanks to him after training for what he’d said on Sky when we were doing deadline day. he described Bournemouth snapping you up as a ‘no brainer’. You’re contracted until the summer. what’s next? JW: It’s a boring answer but it’s important I focus. I need to play. we need to get this club back in the Premier League. Then I’ll sit down at the end of the season with the club, my agent, and see. I’m open to playing abroad but, at the moment, I want to play. I’m always striving to prove myself. I never want to see myself out of this game. I’ve done my coaching badges. hopefully I’ve got a few years left but what I do next is at the back of my head. JR: Jonathan woodgate will be Bournemouth manager for the rest of the season, but was it strange when Thierry henry was being linked with the job? JW: It was strange. Everyone was asking me ‘Is he coming?’ we didn’t know. I didn’t want to say something and then it doesn’t happen. woodgate has been brilliant with me.
The Sheffield wednesday game, we lost 2-1 and I was taken off at half-time. he called me into his office: ‘Look, I’ve been there, I’ve had injuries, I know you’re fighting for your career. I’m going to help you. You’re in my plans.’ To hear that gives you trust. JR: The last six months of my career were at Southampton and it felt like someone was sticking a knife in my knee when I was playing. But my dad was the manager and I wanted to help.
You’re looking lean now, Jack. how’s the body? JW: I’ve played through pain in the past and it holds you back. Mentally, too, you’re not focused on the game, only thinking about getting through it. You don’t do yourself justice.
I’m pain-free now. I learned that in our game against Birmingham. George Friend smashed into me. I probably broke a rib. But this is what it’s about. You do have an idea of what the Championship is like but when you play in it — that’s when you realise. You have to be 100 per cent committed or you don’t survive.
NEWCASTLE United academy director Joe Joyce has been stood down from the role after his wife raised a dispute with the club over the treatment of their son, Sportsmail can reveal.
Joyce, 59, is one of the club’s longest-serving employees after 15 years as head of the youth set-up.
First-team coach Steve Harper has been placed in interim charge of the academy, meaning that under-fire Magpies boss Steve Bruce has lost his services.
Joyce’s son, Sam, was an Under 18s player in the academy before his release in 2019. The 20year-old midfielder is now enrolled on a soccer scholarship in the United States.
However, it is understood that his mother brought a dispute against Newcastle after the recurrence of an injury suffered while Sam was playing for the club. Sportsmail has been told she believes the treatment of that injury on Newcastle’s watch was not sufficient.
There is also an issue over her son’s academic education while in the academy. It is thought legal action has been discussed.
Joyce has been temporarily removed from his position and his club phone has been switched off this week. It is not known if he supports his wife’s claims. Newcastle did not comment.
Harper, the former goalkeeper who spent 20 years as a player, has relocated to the club’s academy base and is no longer assisting Bruce. He would be in line to take the job on a permanent basis were Joyce not to return.
That would safeguard his future at Newcastle — with Bruce’s own position under threat amid a run of 12 defeats in 16 matches.
He retains the support of the club’s hierarchy — at least for now — but another loss at home to Wolves this evening would amplify calls for him to be sacked. Newcastle are three points above 18th-placed Fulham, who travel to Crystal Palace tomorrow.
Bruce, bizarrely, has played down the influence of tactics during the run-in — instead claiming that players make the difference. His comments come after a week in which striker Callum Wilson praised the impact of new assistant boss Graeme Jones and supporters unfurled a banner outside St James’ Park depicting Bruce as the joker in a pack of playing cards.
They again called for owner Mike Ashley to remove the manager.
The bulk of the criticism centres around submissive performances and Bruce’s failure to implement an identifiable style of play during his 19 months in charge. His weekly soundbites in pre-match press conferences are also a source of annoyance and disbelief among fans, and his claims regarding tactics have not been well received.
Bruce said: ‘Did you see Pep Guardiola this week? He was asked about tactics.
‘He said: “Yeah, we’ve invested a lot of money”. How fitting that was, because you can talk about tactics as much as you like, it’s all about players.
‘And, of course, when you’re up against it you need a bit of luck on your side.’
Bruce also believes media coverage of his team’s predicament is over the top given the number of clubs still involved in the fight for survival.
‘We’re not alone, I must stress this. It seems that Newcastle are the only ones in it,’ he said.
‘At the bottom end there are six or seven nervously looking over their shoulder.
‘Can we finish above them? I’m quietly confident.
‘Fulham have won two in a week. Before that, they had won two in six months.’