‘You have to be able to handle abuse’
STEVE Bruce has been asked about abuse and fan behaviour today on BBC One’s Football Focus after being appointed manager of West Bromwich Albion.
The former Newcastle United manager took over at the Championship club earlier this month and has overseen one match so far, a 2-0 loss to Sheffield United, leaving the team a point off the play-offs.
During the interview about his appointment on Football Focus yesterday, Bruce was asked by the reporter about “abuse, fan behaviour” as footage of Newcastle United fans was played. Bruce replied: “I think once you recover from it, I think it’s the people around you who suffer just as much as you do with it, and it’s part and parcel of it. And that’s the difficulty sometimes now, where you have to accept that abuse comes your way and all the rest of it. You’ve got to be able to handle it.”
Bruce was also asked whether he was ready to retire after he left Newcastle following the takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Private Finance Fund, which resulted in the appointment of Eddie Howe. Bruce said: “I was thinking, yes, ‘Maybe is it time?’ But you know, three, four months is a long, long time. So you reflect, and the experience of managing my home town club, even though it was very, very difficult at times, we understand, I still don’t regret it. I really, genuinely wish them the best of luck. The owners were very, very decent and they made it pretty apparent that Spurs was going to be my thousandth game and I was going to be in charge.
“After that we had a conversation and I think it was best for all parties that I moved on because the club needed change and obviously it needed a change with myself too.”