Yahoo Movies Steve Bruce leaves Newcastle ‘by mutual consent’ as future finally resolved after Saudi takeover
Watch: Steve Bruce leaves position as Newcastle head coach
Steve Bruce has finally been sacked by Newcastle’s new owners.
Thirteen days after the Saudi-backed takeover of Newcastle and following intense speculation about his future, the club announced that Bruce had left his position by “mutual consent”.
Bruce is set to pocket £8million in compensation after departing St James’ Park and Newcastle have immediately started their search for a new manager.
Paulo Fonseca, Eddie Howe, Lucien Favre, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have all been linked with the job.
Graeme Jones will lead the team on an interim basis and will be in charge for Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace.
Bruce said: “I am grateful to everyone connected with Newcastle United for the opportunity to manage this unique football club.
“I would like to thank my coaching team, the players and the support staff in particular for all their hard work.
“There have been highs and lows, but they have given everything even in difficult moments and should be proud of their efforts. This is a club with incredible support and I hope the new owners can take it forward to where we all want it to be.”
Bruce was expected to be sacked before Sunday’s match with Tottenham but was allowed to remain in charge for his 1,000th game as a manager as Spurs won 3-2 at St James’ Park.
Despite keeping Newcastle in the Premier League for the past two seasons, the 60-year-old has proved deeply unpopular among supporters during his two years at his boyhood club. Bruce is now set to retire from management.
“I think this might be my last job,” he told the Telegraph today. “It’s not just about me; it’s taken its toll on my whole family because they are all Geordies and I can’t ignore that.
“I’m 60 years old and I don’t know if I want to put [my wife] through it again. We’ve got a good life so, yeah, this will probably be me done as a manager — until I get a phone call from a chairman somewhere asking if I can give them a hand. Never say never, I’ve learned that.
“By the time I got to Newcastle, I thought I could handle everything thrown at me, but it has been very, very tough.
“To never really be wanted, to feel that people wanted me to fail, to read people constantly saying I would fail, that I was useless, a fat waste of space, a stupid, tactically inept cabbage head or whatever — and it was from day one.”
Newcastle legend Alan Shearer tweeted: “I know how tough it was for any manager at Newcastle for the last 14 years. I also know how badly Steve and his family wanted it to work. In difficult circumstances for everybody, he kept Newcastle up for two seasons. It’s a new era now, but thank you, Steve, for your effort and commitment.”
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