The Magpies head into their crucial Premier League encounter with Aston Villa looking to arrest their Premier League decline, which has seen them drop to within one point of the top flight relegation zone. They can strike first at St James’ Park on Friday evening, but will they? Newcastle United fans have no faith Bruce will get the best out of the players at his disposal.
When we asked fans whether Bruce is getting the most from his players this season as part of The Big Shields Gazette NUFC Survey, the results were telling.
A whopping 97.5% of supporters polled said ‘no’ while 1.4% said ‘yes’ and 1.1% were ‘undecided’.
We also asked fans what a realistic Premier League finish for this group of players should look like – and again fans think this squad should be doing better than their current predicament suggests.
There were 23.8% of fans who think Newcastle’s squad should be fighting for a top ten place, while at the other end of the spectrum 18.9% think this team is about where they should be.
The most votes polled were for a lower mid-table Premier League finish, with 55.2% of supporters opting for that option in the survey.
The remaining 2.2% think this group should be aiming higher than just a top ten finish.
Newcastle United currently find themselves in 16th place in the Premier League, a point above Brighton (17th) and Fulham (18th) with 11 games to play.