Steve Bruce set to retire once he receives Newcastle United pay-off?

In December 2019, Steve Bruce declared that if he were to achieve “three, four or five years” managing Newcastle then “it would be the perfect ending” to his managerial career. A year and a third have gone by since then and it is very clear to see that his managerial career at Newcastle is far from “perfect.”

If Bruce were a self-aware man, then he would have recognised his own limitations for success at Newcastle and how he could manipulate that for a possible positive future in management. The “success” that Bruce enjoyed last year was down to riding on the coattails of Benitez’s development of the club and he could have ridden that for year, left for somewhere else and be mildly appreciated by fans for doing a job and leaving at the right stage.

As time has gone on, Bruce’s personal failings have created a rot in the team and club. If he had come in and “steadied the ship” and then left, perhaps the relationship between himself and fans wouldn’t be as damaged as it is.

In the same interview in 2019, Bruce commented on the fact that he will know when it is time to retire, saying “There has to come a time. It is like when you are a player, you know when it is time. That enthusiasm and drive, you lose that little edge. I am determined to have some sort of retirement.”

There have been reports from ex-players that say they know when it’s time to call it a day; it creeps up on them and suddenly they’re not up for it anymore. As Bruce says, “you know when it is time” and I’m convinced that Bruce knows it’s his time to retire now.

Facts are, Bruce isn’t ever going to be hired by a Premier League team again and I have serious doubts that he would ever be picked up by Championship club with any sort of ambition. Bruce must know this and I think, in his mind, he’s already half way towards retirement.

The only reason that Bruce is still in the job is because of the pay-out he could earn by getting sacked, I’m certain of it.

As a manager, Steve Bruce has always been a man criticised (by fans, not media) for his lack of detail and his abundance of excuses but he really seems to have reached a new low.

Bruce is almost baiting Ashley to pull the trigger on him. Call me cynical, but I firmly believe that Bruce is purposely doing the bare minimum so that he can lose his job but gain his money.

The lack of training, constant regurgitated comments before / after games and general lack of drive to actually change things stinks of a man who can't really be bothered anymore.

To give six days off over nine days after our worst result and display of the season is one of the most ludicrous things to happen and this is at a club who wilfully hired Joe Kinnear twice!

For any other manager, Scott Parker for example, this time would be a blessing. The time allows for you to get all your chickens in a row and figure out what your plan of action is going to be for the remainder of the season but instead, Bruce is probably in Cheshire with his feet up on his custom Manchester United embroidered ottoman, chewing away on pork scratchings and watching the cricket.

Newcastle fans are caught in the middle of two stubborn blokes fighting over an obscene, undeserved amount of money. The longer their fight goes on, the more us fans will suffer the consequences.