Former Leeds United and Coventry City forward Noel Whelan has said that Newcastle United’s prospective new owners must keep current manager Steve Bruce until at least the summer, in an interview with Football Insider.
What did he say?
Bruce took over at St. James’ Park over the summer and has guided his side to 13th in the Premier League table with just nine matches to play.
Amanda Staveley is currently brokering a £300m deal to buy the club from Mike Ashley and this has led to speculation that Bruce could lose his job.
However, Whelan has argued that the club need to leave him in charge and give him time to build the side over a full season.
“You’ve got to at the minute, he’s only just started, he’s got to be given the chance,” he told Football Insider.
“He’s been a manager for a number of years now, been in some very, very big clubs, you’ve got to give him that chance to finish and give him that chance to have full season at Newcastle where he can build his team.
“If he’s got the money as well, he could build a better team than what he’s done with Mike Ashley, that’s for sure. You’ve got to give him the opportunity, I think it would be wrong to get rid of him but we also know football’s cutthroat.
“New owners come in, they’ve got new ideas, they might want a new manager. It’s a strange time for Steve, he’ll be wondering about his future but you’ve got to give him the opportunity to finish the season, minimum.
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“If they do let him go, he’s actually done a good job at Newcastle in a short time and he could go and get a new job somewhere else off the back off that.
“I think that’s important, do it the fair way, let him crack on for the rest of the season and Newcastle, it could be some really exciting times ahead for them.”
Transition
If the sale of Newcastle goes through, there is likely to be plenty of upheaval in the short term and given the current circumstances, it is easy to see why keeping Bruce would be the right decision.
He has done a good job with limited resources this season and with just nine matches to play, he deserves to be given until the end of the season at the very least before any decision is taken.