TOON MUST PAY £1M BY SATURDAY FOR BRUCE Owls demand transfer fee as Magpies want their man before this weekend’s China tour

STEVE BRUCE will cost Newcastle £1million – and they want him in the manager’s hot seat before the weekend.

The Geordies are poised to make an official approach to Sheffield Wednesday for Bruce, who only took over at Hillsborough in January.

After 10 clubs and more than 800 games over a 20-year career in the dug-out, Bruce is expected to jump at the chance to be boss of his home town club.

He is on a year-long rolling contract at the Owls and Toon will have to stump up a transfer fee.

Newcastle want a new man in charge before flying to China on Saturday for pre-season games, which begin with a friendly against Wolves on Wednesday.

Magpies chiefs took a long look at the candidates to succeed Rafa Benitez after he walked away from a £6m contract extension.

They have concluded Bruce can guide the club through its current crisis, which has seen fans giving up their season tickets in protest at Benitez’s departure.

His appointment would not be the box-office name some fans had hoped for. But owner Mike Ashley and managing director Lee Charnley want Bruce to smooth the problems behind the scenes.

The 58-year-old is a man-manager with a human touch, who watched the club as a kid and has always coveted the St James’ Park job.

He took Toon’s rivals Sunderland to 10th place, only their third top-half finish in the top flight in 60 years and also guided Hull to promotion and to the FA Cup final.

He has been repeatedly linked with Newcastle since Sir Bobby Robson left 15 years ago. Benitez (left), meanwhile, has taken a swipe at his former employers after his first week in charge of Chinese Super League club Dalian Yifang.

The Spaniard wrote on his blog: “I have had more meetings with the Chairman, the President and the General Manager this week, than I had in three years at Newcastle.

“They haven’t just been work meetings, rather signs of respect in which we have been able to appreciate the differences and similarities in our cultures.

“We have really been touched by the kindness and respect that we have been shown.

“Our hosts have treated us with great consideration and are always keen to make us happy.

“As we all know from experience, in football, just as in everyday life, when people show you respect and affection and do everything they can to make things easier for you, life is much happier, even when you face difficult moments.”