Steve Bruce finally looks like a broken man.
The Newcastle United manager has been up against it ever since taking over what has become a poisoned chalice of a job, however, a lack of investment in signings over the summer transfer window looks to have been the straw that’s broken the camel’s back.
In public he is alleged to have kept up the pretence that he has the experience to turn things around, but at some point, for his own wellbeing as much as anything else, he needs to realise that he did his best and leave whilst he still has some pride intact.
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Let’s be clear. Steve Bruce is a decent man. The sort who does an honest day’s work for a day’s pay. No frills. What you see is what you get.
Time and again he is being made the fall guy for Mike Ashley’s insouciance and that’s wholly unfair.
The Toon Army continue to berate, harangue and abuse Bruce, but they need him much more than he needs them.
If he left now, he does so with his head held high, and because he certainly doesn’t need a potential relegation on his CV.