Steve Bruce makes shock Newcastle United admission and reveals two men he ‘recommended’ to be his successor

Steve Bruce was appointed as Newcastle United manager in the summer of 2019 to replace the popular Rafa Benitez. Bruce would leave the club just over two years later following the takeover of the club in October 2021.

Bruce’s last game in charge was a 3-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at St James’ Park - a result that meant Newcastle would be winless in their opening eight games of the season. Bruce was relieved of his duties just days after the defeat and, as he has recently admitted on the SportBiz podcast, he took it upon himself to help the new owners come to the decision.

Bruce said: “The people who took over Newcastle, they came to see me and if you remember, we were playing Spurs and that was going to be my 1000th game as a manager. They [Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi] both came in and said ‘look Steve, how can we help you?’.

“And I said ‘look, I’m the only negative left’. The euphoria of Newcastle, the support, the crowd, everything about it was as if the doom and gloom had shifted and everything was euphoric. They’ve had an unbelievable rise in 18 months or two years.

“But I had to say to them, ‘you might have to take me out of the equation’. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to say, but I realised it was best for the club because everything was euphoric around it, the only negative was me.”

Bruce continued and revealed how he helped recommend who should become his successor at St James’ Park. The former Aston Villa man revealed he gave Newcastle United’s owners two potential options - one that would turn out to be very successful for the Magpies.

“They even asked me - and I can say this on record - they asked me who I would recommend and I did recommend Eddie.” Bruce revealed. “I hope Steven doesn’t mind, but I recommended Steven Gerrard too.”

After leaving the Magpies, Bruce took charge of West Brom in the Championship, however, he was sacked by the Baggies last October after winning just one of their opening 13 league games.