Steve Bruce makes pledge after 'brutally honest' verdict at Newcastle United

Bruce’s side end their Premier League campaign with a behind-closed-doors home game against Liverpool this afternoon.

United’s head coach, appointed last summer as Rafa Benitez’s successor, abandoned plans for a change in system early in the season, and eventually tweaked the formation before the country went into lockdown.

Asked if fans would see a different brand of football next season, Bruce said: “I didn’t think I could implement change any quicker.

"I didn’t think the players, who were used to playing in a certain way, which was defend deep and play on the counter attack. The club had been like that for the last two or three years, and I learned very quickly they weren’t ready for the change.

"My job’s to improve it, and since we changed (system) we have been better, certainly in terms of possession of the ball, and we’ve been more of a goal threat. We’ve had a little bit of a change, nothing radical.

"I’ve not done what Graham Potter has done at Brighton, for example, because I didn’t think we were ready. But we’ll try to change, we’ll try to improve the squad."

Reflecting on his first 12 months at the club, Bruce added: “We have done OK. There have been ups and downs, as there always is.

"The football hasn’t been great at times, let’s be brutally honest, but that’s where we are. We’ve got to try and improve.”