man himself admitted it was possible. His
haunted expression in the dying minutes of
that 3-2 Spurs defeat, set to the increasingly
common chorus of fury from his own people
cascading down from the stands, was that
of a man who appeared to be at the very
end of his tether.
A few weeks later, when photographed
with his son Alex looking tanned, relaxed
and without a care in the world watching
England’s cricket team at the T20 World Cup
in Dubai, it seemed to confirm that Bruce
had seen out the final chapter of a footballing
life which had started out 42 years earlier as
a raw centre-half at Gillingham.
But the best-laid plans and all that. Bruce
had pencilled in a trip to the Caribbean for
England’s doomed three-Test series against
the West Indies in March but by then, well
refreshed and ready to go once more, he was
already well into his 12th job as a manager.“When I left Newcastle, I did think long
and hard about retirement,” he admits to
FFT now. “But it’s funny – when the phone
starts ringing, you realise that the bug is still
there inside. I had a couple of opportunities
before I joined West Brom in February, but
they were probably a bit too early.
“When [CEO] Ron Gourlay got in touch,
the job ticked a lot of boxes. I like Ron, West
Brom’s a smashing club, and while I’d have
preferred to start with a few more wins, I can
honestly say that I’ve loved every minute.”
Son Alex once admitted that his mum
worried every time Steve took the dog out
for a walk during his time as Toon supremo,
just in case he was abused. So did poor Jan
let out a sigh when her husband clambered
back on the managerial treadmill?
“She’s been with me all of my footballing
life,” smiles Bruce. “She goes along with the
decisions I make. We’ve been together for“I EXPECTED CRITICISM AT
nEWCASTLE. SOME OF IT WAS
JUSTIFIED, BUT THE MOCKERY
AnD RIDICULE DID HURT ME”
Top Newcastle’s
2021 game against
Spurs was Bruce’s
1,000th as a boss
Above Cricket fan
Steve chews the
fat with Moeen Ali68 July 2022 FourFourTwo
hours before kick-off going through a flood
of congratulatory messages from across the
football world, and conducting interviews
with television networks from both home
and abroad. This game in question was just
two minutes old when Bruce was celebrating
along with the vast majority of St James’
52,000-strong crowd, as Callum Wilson fired
the Magpies into an early lead against Nuno
Espirito Santo’s Tottenham.
However, trouble had long been brewing.
The Toon Army may have been in a state of
euphoria following the announcement of
their Saudi Arabian takeover just a few days
earlier, but Bruce was made to feel like
a gatecrasher at their party long before the
final whistle. While Newcastle’s £300 million
financiers were given a rapturous welcome,
three Tottenham goals in the space of 28
first-half minutes meant supporters turned
on their head coach in a way that the new
incumbents could hardly ignore.
And three days later came the inevitable:
Bruce’s fate was sealed. It looked like 1,000
and done for a man who’d begun as player-
manager for Sheffield United 23 years earlier.
But you can’t keep a good man down...
BRUCE (NOT OUT)
Onlookers could have been forgiven for
thinking Bruce’s managerial career was
finished – after his Magpies exit, even the
STEVE
BRUCE