United in a mess
Lee Ryder on the challenge facing Bruce to save Newcastle’s season
LIFE in a bubble has shielded Newcastle United from reality. By the time they come out, they might be in the Championship if things do not change soon.
Despite the disgraceful defeat at Bramall Lane stretching the Magpies’ winless run to eight pitiful games, Steve Bruce is not in any imminent risk of losing his job.
Yesterday the players were given the option of taking the day off, less than 24 hours after they were dominated by the worst team in the Premier League.
No clear-the-air meeting was called. Instead, Bruce will prepare for Monday’s away clash with Arsenal as normal.
United are 15th in the league table and on a terrible run of form, producing displays which add insult to injury. They are just eight points above the relegation places with safety far from guaranteed.
The current team does not have to be the Entertainers, it just needs to have a go and show the people who are consigned to their sitting rooms that it cares.
There are some who still do, who still have the fire and hunger to get Newcastle out of this latest crisis – but whether they can do enough about it before the prospect of relegation sets in again is another matter.
Tuesday night’s defeat brings back memories of 2016, when Jamaal Lascelles was sent off in an awful defeat at Everton.
As he trudged away, he muttered: “Nobody gives a ****.”
Months later, the Magpies were relegated. Can Bruce hear similar noises now?
What can he do about it, with no money? This is the squad he has, he has to make it work.
He has a squad bursting with high earners, some of them being paid a crazy amount of money just to come in and train before getting a massage on their way out of the training ground. What is he going to do with them?
If Newcastle are not going to change manager, does Bruce need some backing with another coach or a technical director to support him – or even another voice to give fans some clarity on where Newcastle are heading?
At the moment the club’s sole aim is to stay up. The lack of ambition is staggering, particularly at a club whose former chairman Sir
John Hall once demanded the “top three in the country and the top 10 in Europe”, while Kevin Keegan once said: “The sky’s the limit.”
The latter, however, is a man who was forced to admit defeat when faced with the constraints of the Mike Ashley era.
The time of hope and optimism at St James’ Park has long since gone.
Some managers will believe Bruce is still doing a decent job as he is working with players signed to take Newcastle out of the Championship five years ago and, despite all the flak he takes, the head coach’s continues to be the only voice coming out of a club which stumbles from one crisis to another.
During his intense post-match press conference at Bramall Lane, Bruce looked visibly deflated.
The current team does not have to be the Entertainers, it just needs to have a go and show it cares Lee Ryder
His own players had let him down badly.
After facing some of his critics, he chatted on the touchline with Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder for almost 15 minutes in the icy Yorkshire air.
The Blades are rock bottom of the Premier League but Wilder has been assured of his future no matter what happens this season – but then there is a proper plan in place at Bramall Lane and owners who want to be there. Years have passed since the Magpies had that.
Bruce is not bulletproof and, as Steve McClaren found to his cost in 2016, if Newcastle stumble into the bottom three and become embroiled in a tight relegation scrap Ashley is capable of making changes – but as 2016 proved, it could be too little, too late.
United’s next three games will not fill fans with much confidence with Arsenal away on Monday night, a home clash with Leeds – who thrashed Newcastle 5-2 last month – and then a tricky clash at Everton.
Ashley has been absent in recent weeks and has left close aides Justin Barnes and Keith Bishop to oversee proceedings at board level along with managing-director Lee Charnley.
However, Barnes and Bishop have been also sitting in on meetings with Ashley’s legal team as he looks to sell the club to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Reuben brothers and Amanda Staveley. Their eyes are not on the ball.
With Premier League status said to be a key element to the sale, as United’s value will plummet significantly if they were to be relegated, the board have an extremely difficult balancing act of not spending to improve and ensuring they stay up with what they have.
The lack of fans in the ground means Bruce and his players are shielded from discontent from the terraces but the noise on social media for change is getting louder.
A banner was placed on the gates of St James’ Park which said ‘Bruce out’.
Ashley would have to pay out big bucks to dismiss Bruce and then replace him with a figure who would pacify the fanbase.
Newcastle’s current regime was able to bounce back from relegation and prevent a full-scale mutiny when it appointed Rafa Benitez because the former Liverpool and Real Madrid gaffer symbolised hope on the terraces.
Yet finding somebody like Benitez would require assurances on a competitive transfer kitty and a plan for the future.
For now, Bruce will dust himself down and get on with the job but, having survived the fan storm after the Brentford game a month ago, Newcastle have quickly plummeted to a similarly low position in terms of morale and results.