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Steve Bruce explains why he is the 7th best choice to be in charge of Newcastle United

3 years ago
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Steve Bruce has been talking again.

This is rarely a good thing.

The Newcastle United Head Coach speaking ahead of the Villa match on Saturday night, on the back of a run of no wins in the last nine matches and only one goal scored by NUFC in almost twelve hours of football.

Steve Bruce this time explaining why he is the seventh best person to be in charge of Newcastle United at this difficult time…

“I have got a belief in my ability.

When you have managed nearly 500 games in the Premier League, it is no fluke that I am still here.

“I have got the equipment to handle what comes my way.

“To make sure that we finish in the Premier League and try and finish above where we finished last year.

“I think I’ve managed nearly 500 games in the Premier League, which is something like 11 years, the experience has certainly helped me.

“It is demanding and if you are on a tough run then you have to put up with what you have to put up with.

“The one thing about you is [that you need to] keep that little bit of respect, that little bit of dignity.

“Make sure that you try and do the best you can and try and obviously get a result along the way – that helps.”

So we are told by our esteemed leader that ‘it is no fluke that I am still here’, yes we know that Steve, it is the same reason why ‘it is no fluke’ you got the Newcastle job in the first place.

The reason for both is Mike Ashley.

Appointing somebody who was nowhere near good enough for the job as his first priority was to have a patsy / stooge, so desperate to get the job that they would agree to whatever conditions came attached…deflecting criticism from Ashley, justifying Ashley’s scandalous running of the club at press conferences, and so on.

Anyway, Steve Bruce claims that number of Premier League games is what makes him ‘no fluke’, by his reasoning, Steve Bruce is the seventh most perfect man for the job currently.

These are the 15 managers to have taken charge of the most Premier League matches.

Number of matches, name, win ratio, then which clubs they have managed and how many PL games at each:

828 – Arsene Wenger (57%) – Arsenal (828)

810 – Alex Ferguson (65%) – Manchester United (810)

641 – Harry Redknapp (37%) – West Ham United (269), Portsmouth (158), Tottenham Hotspur (144), Queens Park Rangers (48), Southampton (22)

564 – David Moyes (39%) – Everton (427), West Ham United (65), Sunderland (38), Manchester United (34)

518 – Sam Allardyce (34%) – Bolton Wanderers (226), West Ham United (114), Blackburn Rovers (76), Sunderland (30), Everton (24), Newcastle United (21), Crystal Palace (21), West Bromwich Albion (6)

466 – Mark Hughes (34%) – Stoke City (174), Blackburn Rovers (148), Manchester City (54), Fulham (38), Queens Park Rangers (30), Southampton (22)

448 – Steve Bruce (28%) – Birmingham City (165), Sunderland (89), Hull City (76), Wigan Athletic (62), Newcastle United (56)

359 – Martin O’Neill (36%) – Leicester City (152), Aston Villa (152), Sunderland (55)

349 – Jose Mourinho (61%) – Chelsea (212), Manchester United (93), Tottenham Hotspur (44)

345 – Roy Hodgson (34%) – Crystal Palace (129), Fulham (94), Blackburn Rovers (52), West Bromwich Albion (50), Liverpool (20)

340 – Rafa Benitez (49%) – Liverpool (228), Newcastle United (86), Chelsea (26)

328 – Alan Curbishley (33%) – Charlton Athletic (266), West Ham United (62)

322 – Tony Pulis (30%) – Stoke City (190), West Bromwich Albion (106), Crystal Palace (26)

320 – Alan Pardew (34%) – Newcastle United (155), Crystal Palace (74), West Ham United (55), Charlton Athletic (18), West Bromwich Albion (18)

302 – Joe Kinnear (32%) – Wimbledon (284), Newcastle United (18)

This list of 15 can basically be instantly chopped in tw0.

You have the elite successful managers that are respected around the world – Wenger, Ferguson, Mourinho, Benitez.

Then you have the rest.

Some are obviously more credible than others but in general, the principle is, you have a host of English / British journeymen managers and if they hang around long enough (like a bad smell), eventually one of the other poor to average clubs will eventually give them a job.

Steve Bruce says basically, look, if clubs have employed me for these many Premier League games then surely I must be good?

Hmmm, using that reasoning, I’m guessing that when Joelinton is on Skype to his mam and dad, he will be saying, yes I know I have scored only three goals but that nice Mr Bruce has played me (as a starter or sub) in 54 of the 56 Premier League matches, so I must be playing well.

Steve Bruce has the very worst win ratio of any of these 15 managers above, even the ones we would see as just as disastrous appointments as Steve Bruce, whether it is Pulis, Hughes, JFK or whoever.

The truth is though, none of them are as bad as Steve Bruce.

He even brags about having managed in the Premier League for around 11 seasons, this is his 23rd season in management and so even that tells you he has spent around the same amount of time managing in League One and the Championship.

Mike Ashley shocked the football world when giving the job to Steve Bruce in July 2019, no wonder fans of all the other Premier League clubs laughed at us. A shocking record when managing in the Premier League BUT also the fact that when appointed by Ashley, his last Premier League season had been 2014/15 when he relegated Hull City!

Not every managerial appointment is going to be successful but instead of going for the same old recycled group of failures, clubs employing the likes of Hasenhuttl, Potter, Bielsa, Smith, Nuno and Parker are at least giving themselves a chance of doing something different, having somebody in charge who may build something different and special at their respective clubs.

What really makes me laugh is when Steve Bruce talks about the need to ‘keep that little bit of respect, that little bit of dignity’…if only he would!

Resigning now, instead of desperately hanging on for a big pay-off, would be the only way Steve Bruce might retain even a minute amount of respect from Newcastle fans after his laughable conduct these past 18 months and counting.

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