‘Awful to watch’ - Ex-Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce aims dig at Rafa Benitez

Former Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce has described Rafa Benitez’ Newcastle United side as ‘awful to watch’ - despite admitting that he felt he needed to change very little when he took over from the Spaniard in the St James’ Park dugout. Bruce succeeded Benitez as Newcastle United head coach during the summer of 2019 and revealed on the Up Front podcast with Simon Jordan that he felt he didn’t need to change too much from the tactics Benitez employed during his time at the club, despite describing some of their football as ‘awful’.

Bruce said: “I would think that the teams I’ve managed in the Premier League - and I’m going to get slaughtered for this - but they were in the bottom half. I remember going to China and watching ten or twelve games of the season before when Rafa was in charge, who they all idolised.

“And he finished 12th or 13th and he’d gone about it this way so I thought ‘I ain't gonna change much here’. He defends deep, we had lost Mitrovic up the pitch and we need a centre forward and some more players in.

“But this is the way he has gone about it and been awful to watch. I hold my hand up and saw we weren’t great to watch, but how do I keep Newcastle United in the Premier League? That’s the brief.”

Bruce kept the Magpies in the Premier League during his two full seasons at the club, both of which were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic with supporters only able to attend games for two-thirds of the 2019/20 season before the season finished behind closed doors. The next campaign, that was played almost fully without supporters, saw United survive the drop courtesy of a late season Joe Willock-inspired rally.

When supporters eventually returned to stadiums, Newcastle failed to win any of their opening eight games of the season before Bruce’s departure following the takeover of the club in October 2021. Under Eddie Howe, Bruce’s eventual successor, the Magpies were able to beat the drop, finishing in an impressive 11th position having taken 49 points from 38 games.