So stagnant under Bruce

STEVE BRUCE looks like a tired manager who hasn’t got a plan to give Newcastle United fans real hope.

Yes, you can look at the table and say they will probably avoid relegation, having 17 points already.

You can give him leeway recently for having eight players go down with Covid.

You can give him credit for demanding the signing of Callum Wilson, without whom the Toon would be in the bottom three.

But you can’t look at Bruce’s team and say he has made them more than the sum of their parts or given them positive, attacking identity.

You can’t say they are capable of commanding a game, keeping possession, building attacks and making fans think better is to come.

Instead, his side passively fear the opposition, have 30 per cent of the ball and concede shots.

They are a team that muddle through at a club where success is measured by survival in the top flight, not a quest for goals and glory.

So can we bust some myths about the job Bruce is doing at Newcastle? He is not exceeding expectations. He has lowered them to the point where fans want him out.

Bruce is an experienced/plodding/ safe/increasingly toxic manager, who will keep Newcastle up and bring any remaining goodwill on the terraces down. Having no fans at St James’ Park is buying him time.

Owner Mike Ashley might be seeing points on the board and think all is OK, but he’s had his personal representatives at recent games – and they have witnessed the tail-off.

Will Ashley have the will or the ruthlessness to bring in fresh blood, with Eddie Howe available now?

Or should he wait until the summer and give Steven Gerrard a nonMerseyside route to the top flight?