Players must Toon in now

NEWCASTLE UNITED’S squad earn around £100million a year.

Last weekend they largely escaped scrutiny for a performance against Brighton that was one of the most pathetic and uncompetitive in the 20 years I’ve covered the club.

It looked and smelled like they were trying to get Steve Bruce the sack with their collective lack of fight.

Bruce takes the flack, and rightly so, for overseeing just two wins in 20 games and a disintegration of spirit and belief. It is clear a proportion, possibly a high number, of the playing squad, don’t rate Bruce.

Many have gone backwards since Bruce (below) took over from Rafa Benitez. They see a manager talking up average opposition, showing no ambition, little positivity and thrashed by sharper tactical brains.

They see a lazy malaise gripping the club with multiple days off, possibly benefitting Bruce who has a mansion and family in the

North West.

It was telling that when

Isaac Hayden was ruled out for the season last week, the joke was that on the bright side he’d only miss three of four training sessions.

No matter what Toon players feel about Bruce, they face an emergency on the pitch and it is time for a call to arms. They have to fight and keep the club in the Premier League, or the blame could quickly shift to them.

Jobs, city prestige, Geordie pride, and tussling with the elite are at stake, and Jamaal Lascelles, Callum Wilson, Martin Dubravka and Co have to bang heads together and separate any lack of faith in Bruce from a need to keep the club afloat.

By quickly saying Bruce stays in charge, owner Mike Ashley is deliberately throwing the pressure back on to the players and asking them to justify their big contracts.

Ashley’s thinking? Sacking managers in 2009 and 2016 with a handful of games to go didn’t prevent relegation, so why do it again.