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Alan Shearer has given his verdict on Steve Bruce joining Newcastle United

5 years ago
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Alan Shearer has been talking about Steve Bruce’s appointment at Newcastle United.

Wednesday seeing the club announce Bruce as the new Head Coach, not Manager.

This bringing to and a bizarre week or more of a stand-off between Newcastle and Sheffield Wednesday, although having said that, the South Yorkshire club put out their own statement after the announcement, saying that no agreement had so far been reached on compensation and they are taking legal advice.

It has long been mentioned that Alan Shearer is big mates with Steve Bruce and that is backed up by the fact the Geordie legend (Shearer, not Bruce…) has revealed he met the then Sheff Wed manager for dinner, just after Mike Ashley announced Rafa Benitez was definitely leaving.

Alan Shearer says that the pair spoke hypothetically (although personally I still think this has been going on some time and that at least some kind of approach from Mike Ashley’s people may have happened by then to ask Steve Bruce about the job, even if it was to say, hypothetically, would you be interested…) about what would happen if his mate was offered the job.

Shearer says his advice was simple…“No, no, no, don’t take it.”

The former number nine clearly hasn’t changed his mind about Mike Ashley and believes the job and situation is a near impossible one at St James Park, although he wishes his mate all the best.

For the vast majority of Newcastle fans, they see in Steve Bruce somebody who hasn’t the qualities or CV to suggest he should be even considered for the NUFC job. No other Premier League club would give him a second look, so why on earth Newcastle?

Alan Shearer obviously sees Bruce having the right character as a person but for most fans they simply see yet another desperate candidate, ready to take the job under any circumstances/conditions because it is a post that they shouldn’t have been in the running for.

The very fact that Mike Ashley has given him the title of Head Coach sweeps away any doubts at all as to exactly what the job specification is, Steve Bruce has totally bought into becoming part of ‘Team Ashley’ by accepting he is simply there to train and pick the team, with zero say on important decisions, such as transfers in and out.

That is perfectly summed up by the apparently imminent signing of Joelinton for a reported £36m, clearly if this goes through it is a signing that Steve Bruce has had zero input in.

We don’t know who is picking the signings on behalf of Mike Ashley and you have to wonder, does even Steve Bruce know yet who that is?

Welcome to Newcastle United.

Alan Shearer speaking to The Sun:

‘I was out for dinner with Steve Bruce three weeks ago. It was just after Rafa Benitez had left Newcastle and we spoke about what he should do if he was approached and offered the job.

My advice to him that night was simple: “No, no, no, don’t take it.”

I said: “Why are you going to be any different to Keegan or Benitez? If you take it, you must be mad because you know how it works there.”

But Steve is his own man and I respect that. I can’t tell him what to do, even though he is a good friend of mine.

He was not Newcastle’s first choice to replace Rafa. He might not even have been their second, third or fourth pick. It looks more like he could have been the last man standing…

But Steve can have no excuses at all if it goes wrong because he knows exactly what he is taking on.

He knows how the football club is run, it is not a secret any more.

This is without a doubt the toughest and most toxic situation Steve has ever walked into.

No job is impossible but this one is very, very difficult for so many different reasons.

He’ll do a good job just to keep Newcastle up this season.

If Steve starts well and gets some good results, he might calm a few fans down. But one thing they are not going to forget about is their issues with the owner.

Under Rafa, they finally had a little bit of hope. They had a manager who had been hugely successful and wasn’t afraid to say how it was — but he was allowed to walk away for nothing.

But while he has worked under some difficult owners in his previous jobs, I doubt he has had any like this before.

He also knows what has gone on with me at the club in the past, so at least he won’t be asking me to join him!

He is very hard-working and a genuine, honest guy, who wears his heart on his sleeve. He is a brilliant man-­manager and is always very popular with players.

I like him a lot and I actually admire him for having the balls to take the job on. But I just really hope that he doesn’t live to regret it like I fear he will.’

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