Newcastle United fans give their strong verdict on the future of Steve Bruce – after improved Premier League finish

Steve Bruce helped oversee five wins in the final eight games of the top flight campaign – a run which saw United drive away from relegation fears in 17th to a remarkable 12th-placed finish when all was said and done in 2020/21.

And while Bruce deserves some credit for this shock, but welcome turnaround, the run has done little to shift the opinions of the United faithful.

As part of our end of season review we asked YOU, the fans, to give your thoughts on a number of different black and white topics by taking part in our BIG Shields Gazette NUFC survey.

The votes have been cast and the results are in – and here’s what you think of Bruce and his future.

We asked ‘Do you believe Steve Bruce should remain as Newcastle United manager next season?’ and of the 1,618 responses, the vast majority still believe it’s time for Bruce to go.

Exactly 93.7% of those polled voted ‘no’ with just 6.3% believe Bruce has done enough to remain in the top job on Tyneside.

When asked how the season overall ranked 55.3% believe it was still ‘below average’ despite the one place and one point improvement on 2019/20. Around 45% think the Magpies put in an average performance for the campaign.

We also asked fans to consider wiping the slate clean and starting again last season, then to assess where they believe this squad of players ‘should’ finish in the Premier League standings. And the results proved fans wanted that little bit more from those in possession of the shirts with 52.8% of fans thinking United should have pushed into the 7th to 10th bracket in the top flight – 39.6% thought 11-14 was about right.

So, does Steve Bruce deserve any credit for the end to the season?

Just 11.7% voted for ‘yes’, while a further 38.1% think he deserves some. The majority however believe he does not – 50.2%.

And finally we asked about the impact of now England coach Graeme Jones.

Some 68.8% believe his impact on system and style to be ‘significant’, while just 0.1% of fans thought he’d had no impact.

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