Steve Bruce 'accepts' he may be sacked by new Newcastle owners
Newcastle manager Steve Bruce is resigned to losing his job following the completion of the club's protracted takeover by a Saudi-backed consortium.
A group of investors made up of PCP Capital Partners, David and Simon Reuben and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund finally completed their purchase of the Magpies from outgoing owner Mike Ashley on Thursday.
Following the announcement, 90min revealed there are plans to make sweeping changes to the club's management structure - including a new chief executive, sporting director and manager - with big names such as Gareth Southgate being considered to take over in the dugout.
Bruce - who was not contacted by anyone involved in the consortium until late on Thursday - is under no illusions that his job is under serious threat, but says he will accept whatever decision is made on his future.
“I want to continue, I’d like the chance to show the new owners what I can do, but you have to be realistic and they may well want a new manager to launch things for them," he told The Telegraph. "New owners normally want a new manager. I’ve been around long enough to understand that."
“That decision is not up to me. I accept that and I will accept what comes my way. I have to wait to have those conversations with people when the time is right."
Bruce was set to take charge of his 1,000th match as a manager when Newcastle host Spurs at St. James' Park a week on Sunday, but it now seems unlikely he will be the man in the dugout.
“If I don’t make it to a 1,000 games against Spurs, you might say that could only happen to me, but I don’t think it would be cruel. It’s just football."
Despite him being a Geordie and boyhood fan of the club, Newcastle fans have gradually turned on Bruce since his appointment in 2019, citing poor results and an unattractive style of play.
But despite the toxic atmosphere that has been created around him, Bruce insisted he holds no grudges and is excited for what the future held for the club, whether he was involved or not.
“This is not about me, I cannot stress that enough,” he continued. “I have said from the first day news of this takeover came out in public, that if it is the best thing for the football club, if it takes this magnificent football club forward then I am all for it.
“I am not going to be bitter or angry about anything, whatever happens. Of course there will be sadness if I lose my job, it’s the job I’ve wanted my whole life, certainly since I became a manager and as hard as it’s been, I have been enormously proud to be manager of Newcastle United. That will never change.
“Do you know what? I’m not the most important talking point now. What happens to me, well, it’s not irrelevant, but this is about the football club and its future."