Alex Bruce has leaped to the defence of his dad now calls for him to be sacked continue to grow, claiming “he can only deal with what he’s got” in a not so subtle dig at the Newcastle United squad at his disposal.
Another clear suggestion that the players aren’t good enough – but frankly, the only thing ‘not good enough’ here is the latest excuse coming from the Bruce camp.
Newcastle have been tragic lately, with Bruce without a win in NINE games and us scoring just ONCE in our last seven – results and performances which have allowed us to be well and truly dragged into a dog fight at the bottom.
Here’s what Bruce junior told the Racing Post in his latest defence of his dad:
“It’s the same for all the teams down in the bottom six or eight where Newcastle are and where everyone expected them to be at the start of the season,”
“There is no getting away from the fact they have had some poor performances recently, but it’s also been a really difficult set of fixtures against Leicester, Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal twice, so all you can do is roll your sleeves up and dig in.
“That’s all the players can do, that’s all my dad can do and that’s all the staff can do to try to get out of the situation.”
“My dad can only deal with what he has got. He has a good working relationship with everyone at the club and I know for a fact he is trying his best.
“There have been some bad performances but some good ones as well. He’s just got to grind it out.”
Interesting that he also states we are ‘where everyone expected us to be’ in that we are in the midst of a relegation battle, however this is another careless point to make.
He’s always going to defend his dad, but so many conveniently forget the capable squad Steve Bruce inherited was strengthened even further over the summer after he landed a £20m striker in Callum Wilson, a proven winger in Ryan Fraser and £15m left-back Jamal Lewis – a player Liverpool bid for before his arrival last summer. On paper, this was a team that SHOULD have been pushing more towards the top 10 under decent management – not scrapping for survival at the bottom.
Simon Jordan revealed on Tuesday that he had spoken to Steve Bruce last week. While keeping his cards close to his chest on what was said, he did say that our squad of players are simply not good enough.
Now, son Alex has echoed this view, and reading between the lines it is very plausible that Bruce senior feels this way too.
The bottom line is that this is the most expensive Newcastle squad we have had in years. While there are some below average players among our ranks and a clear weakness in midfield, he can’t complain when an already solid squad has had over £100m spent on it since he took charge 18 months ago.
Rafa Benitez was not afforded the luxury of a star winger like Allan Saint-Maximin, a proven striker in Callum Wilson or a £15million full back in Jamal Lewis.
You can’t knock Alex for sticking up for his Dad and some of what he says is fair. For example, some of the personal abuse aimed at Bruce senior has been harsh at times and pretty uncalled for when we were sitting in a comfortable position in the table.
However, you should always call a spade a spade in my book and the fact of this remains: Alongside Steve Mclarren, Bruce has been backed more than any other manager in the Mike Ashley era – yet we look absolutely hopeless and likely to go down if nothing changes.
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