career. Like most of my family, he loved
Newcastle. Despite his reservations about
me becoming a manager, he’d have been so
proud had he been alive when I took the job.
“Well, I have to say that in a way, in those
last few weeks, I’m glad he wasn’t. It wasn’t
very pleasant.”
But Bruce insists he’s not bitter about the
experience. If anything, he expected it. “Look,
you don’t go into football management to
court popularity,” he shrugs. “Even the great
Sir Bobby Robson had his fair share of stick.
I remember him telling me about his final
season at Newcastle...”CAP IN HAND
Bruce became close to Robson before he
joined Sunderland in June 2009 and still
misses their chats.
“I actually saw him a few hours before he
passed away,” he says. “Lady Elsie invited
Jan and I to say our goodbyes, so we went
to his home and spent a few minutes with
him. It was incredibly moving.
“I was very fond of Sir Bobby. I got to know
him really well in his final years, and we’d
often meet up for a drink during the close
season when we were both in Portugal – he
was great company and his stories kept me
entertained for hours.”
Go back two decades, though, and Robson
wasn’t exactly top of Bruce’s Christmas card
list. “Back then, I called him a few names,”
he confesses with a rueful smile.
Bruce, after all, was the captain of a hugely
successful Manchester United side: the kindso long, and she knows me so well that
I think even after I said Newcastle could be
my last job, she realised that I wasn’t quite
ready for retirement even before I did. Yes,
she wanted me to have some time off, and
I suspect that she’d have wanted it to be
a bit more than four months. But even if I’d
been offered the job managing Timbuktu,
she’d have downed tools, packed her bags
and joined me there.”
For all the stress, condemnation and snide
comments that would follow, however, Bruce
has never regretted his decision to walk out
on Sheffield Wednesday in July 2019 and
manage the club he had supported from the
terraces as a child.
“Look, I was under no illusions whatsoever
when I arrived at Newcastle,” he explains.
“I was becoming part of an unpopular regime
and knew I’d be associated with Mike Ashley
from day one. And I was replacing Rafael
Benitez, who was loved by the fans.
“So I expected criticism and yes, some of it
was justified. We weren’t pleasing on the eye
a lot of the time and there were periods when
we really struggled. But the ridicule and the
mockery crossed a line. It did hurt me and it
upset my family, too.
“After my first match, I was accused of
throwing on a substitute and telling him to
play where he wanted – then the next week,
someone said I didn’t know how to properly
warm up the team. I was even accused of
giving the squad too much time off so I could
go off on holiday! Criticism is one thing, but
on occasions it got very personal and showed
a basic lack of respect.”
Arguably the most bizarre episode was
‘Bacongate’, when Bruce was ridiculed for
mishearing a question from a Sky reporter.
A fortnight earlier, he had been chatting
informally to journalists who reminded him
that during his days at Hull, he’d organised
bacon sandwiches for those in attendance
at his 9am briefing. Any chance at Newcastle,
they wondered? Bruce had it on his mind as
he entered the media room for his first press
conference, so when asked “How was the
break?” he mistakenly thought the reporter
had said, “How’s the bacon?” It was seized
upon by his critics.
“I’m not on Twitter myself, but Alex keeps
me posted and some of the stuff there is just
downright nasty,” says Bruce. “My dad, who
along with mum died when I was at Aston
Villa, told me that I was bonkers going into
management. He couldn’t understand why
I wanted to do it after a successful playingSTEVE
BRUCEAbove Bruce got
close to Bobby
in his final years
Below The end
of Bruce’s Toon
spell was tough