Sky Sports report that Steve Bruce is by far best candidate who can unite club and fans – Incredible
Newcastle United is regularly a big story for Sky Sports.
They know that there is interest and fascination not just from those on Tyneside…but also many neutrals enjoy hearing about the goings on at the Mike Ashley circus.
No surprise then that they made plenty of Steve Bruce getting the job at St James Park on Wednesday.
Tellingly of course, the job he did get was ‘Head Coach’ rather than ‘Manager’, Mike Ashley making clear as he did before Steve McClaren was appointed, that this is a role with very limited say/power.
With no press conference due to Steve Bruce flying to China and no doubt Mike Ashley and his minions happy to keep Bruce away from any awkward questions, Sky Sports and others had to fill the gap.
As well as interviews with past players and fans, Sky Sports had their reporter Tim Thornton do a stand alone piece talking to camera, with St James Park in the background.
Tim Thornton of Sky Sports standing outside St James Park:
“Probably the one thing that Steve Bruce will have in his favour is that he’s a local boy, he understands the people up here.
“There is a lot of anger and frustration at his appointment, not necessarily because he is Steve Bruce.
“Just because whoever came in for Rafa, I think it would have been difficult.
“But Bruce has had so much success throughout his career.
“He is vastly experienced and if anybody can come in here and unite the fans and the club, it is probably Steve Bruce.
“So yes it is going to be difficult, he comes into quite a toxic environment in terms of the supporters and the club, but he does have so much experience and that local knowledge as well, will surely help him.”
This kind of nonsense can only be down to one of two things, either this is a cynical misrepresentation of what the truth actually is, or else Tim Thornton/Sky Sports don’t have a clue…
I have seen hundreds of comments this past week from fans of other clubs and I can’t remember more than two or three, that didn’t know exactly what Newcastle fans overwhelmingly think about Steve Bruce’s appointment.
They talk about him being a Geordie as being some vital factor, I don’t know anybody who thinks this has any real importance.
It is the likes of Sky Sports that are the ones who cynically make out that we are desperate for something like this and it just isn’t true.
Yes we loved Sir Bobby Robson but because he was an excellent manager, him being from up here was a bonus. We also loved Kevin Keegan and Rafa Benitez, it didn’t matter that they weren’t born within sight of St James Park.
Plus, Steve Bruce has had zero connection to Newcastle United in his entire professional career, apart from being desperate to beat us. It was embarrassing the way he went on about Newcastle when he was managing Sunderland and we all know Manchester United is his club. When he was supposed to be the Sky Sports pundit with a love for both clubs when Newcastle beat Man Utd 5-0, we soon knew where his loyalties were 100%. He was almost crying as Keegan’s team hammered his beloved Man Utd and was relentless in claiming the result could have been so different if Man Utd had got a penalty (which clearly wasn’t a penalty) when they were one down.
These past 40 years as a player and manager have seen him working away from Tyneside. I have relations who left the area for work around the same time and whilst they visit, the simple fact is that they haven’t really got a clue about life up here these days because they have lived and worked elsewhere.
There is nothing wrong with that, it is just the way that it is.
To claim that Newcastle United is Steve Bruce’s real dream job is laughable, especially when he was allegedly offered the job twice in the past and turned it down. Of course this chance is attractive, not a single other Premier League club would offer him a job. To be plucked from Championship mid-table obscurity and offered this, no wonder he was as desperate to accept as were JFK, Pardew, Carver and McClaren in past years.
How can Sky Sports employ somebody who can mislead the viewers with nonsense such as…’But Bruce has had so much success throughout his career.’
No he hasn’t.
Steve Bruce’s career can be pretty much summed up by saying he has got clubs relegated and he has got club promoted, that is it really. He has never won any trophies as a manager and there are any number of managers who have a similar record of getting some promotions as well as some relegations.
We have used these stats day after day so why aren’t Sky Sports using them as well – Of the managers to take charge of 250 or more PL matches, only Steve Bruce and Bryan Robson have a win ratio of less than 30%.
As for ‘He is vastly experienced’, what does that mean? What is he experienced in doing?
He has spent most of this last decade in the Championship and has done nothing to say he deserves a Premier League job.
He has managed for 20 years or so but has been very poor to average.
Once again the stats back this up, this is another set of info that we have been regularly using but Sky Sports and others don’t/wont, his record of points and goals per game as a Premier League manager are absolutely abysmal.
Just look at him compared to even the careers of McClaren, JFK and Pardew, none of who can dream of getting jobs as managers at a decent level now.
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