I know some my Magpies
BOSS BRUCE ‘AS DISAPPOINTED AS ANYONE’ - BUT ASKS TO BE JUDGED OVER WHOLE SEASON
STEVE Bruce has insisted he will not “shy away” from the challenge he is now confronted with at Newcastle United - and insists he is simply the latest man to address 52 years of hurt on Tyneside.
The Magpies whimpered out of the League Cup with a 1-0 defeat against Brentford in what felt like a watershed moment for Bruce and his staff. However, with United in a relatively safe position in the Premier League at the moment, Bruce has carried on with the job and takes on Manchester City in the first of three festive fixtures.
When asked about his future, Bruce said: “Since I’ve walked through the door, the first thing I’ve tried to do is take the club forward – that’s my job.
“I’m a Newcastle fan, like everyone knows. It’s slow, and after the other night (against Brentford), you have to accept that people are going to say there’s been no progress.
“I would beg to differ, but I’m never going to shy away from the fact that people have their opinions.
“Of course now, when you’re up against it a bit, you have to batten down the hatches and firmly believe in what you’re doing.
“We’ve got to go work, and get the squad and the team as good as I can get them.
“There’s no disputing the fact that we’ve had a poor week, especially when we’ve blown the opportunity that we had.
“Unfortunately, that’s been Newcastle over the last 40 years where we haven’t been to a semi-final (in the League Cup).
“I’m as disappointed as anybody else.”
In a tense Press conference, which took place immediately after the 1-0 loss to Brentford via a Zoom conference, Bruce was then asked directly if he was the man to turn it around.
He said: “I’ve been up against it before. I’m as disappointed as everybody else that we didn’t get to a semifinal.
“But where we are in the Premier League, while we’d all love to be a bit higher…
“You know you’re going to be up against it sometimes as a manager,
and it’s my turn because we’ve lost to Brentford.
“If you manage Newcastle, then you’ve got to deal with the consequences that are coming your way.
“Thankfully, I’ve been around the block a bit and have been in difficult situations before.
“The one thing I’ll never do is shy away from it, that’s for sure.”
Bruce also feels that he should be judged over the season rather than in small segments, adding: “It’s your accumulation of points over a 10-month period that matters.
“If you’re a club like ours, or a club that expects to be in the bottom half of the Premier League, then it’s always tough.
“When you see Arsenal on 14 points, you realise how tough it is.
“This is what the Premier League is, this is what it throws up, and that will never change.
“You’ve got to ready for it. “There’s going to be periods where you go up and down, and unfortunately we’ve had a bad week.
“It’s only three or four weeks that we were at Crystal Palace, where we were delighted with the performance, and we then followed that up with the West Brom win.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had a poor week since. We have to accept it and get on with it.”