Last week, I put out the article about Mike Ashley's reign of terror, now let's review the tenure of the final managerial appointment of his ownership - Steve Bruce.
Things were as toxic as ever when Rafael Benítez left the club upon expiry of his contract at the end of the 2018/19 season, even more so when Ayoze Pérez's £30,000,000 release clause was activated by Leicester City. It was then revealed that Steve Bruce was being considered to replace Benítez and as Sheffield Wednesday were holding out for a compensation fee we weren't expecting to have to pay, he resigned as Owls boss and two days later, he was appointed shortly before we were beaten 4-0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League Asia Trophy. He did watch from the stands as Yoshinori Muto scored the only goal in the third place play-off win over West Ham United three days before we broke our transfer record by signing Brazilian forward Joelinton from Hoffenheim for £40,000,000, a fee that Rafa was reportedly against paying for him (especially when successful loan signing Salomón Rondón had a £16,500,000 release clause after West Bromwich Albion's failure to win promotion) right before he left.
Allan Saint-Maximin, Emil Krafth and Andy Carroll were also signed before the start of the season whilst Jetro Willems came in on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt and it was Willems that Bruce's first mistake involved as he sent him on to play in midfield in place of the injured Jonjo Shelvey (after leaving Ki Sung-yueng and Matty Longstaff out the matchday squad) then sending him to left wing back right before a mistake from the Dutchman led to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring the only goal of the game four minutes later. It got worse the following week as we were beaten 3-1 by newly promoted Norwich City with Teemu Pukki bagging a hat-trick but his first win came eight days as Joelinton's first Magpies goal gave us a shock 1-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur despite an early injury to Allan Saint-Maximin as the Frenchman was rushed back from an injury that ruled him out against Norwich. Willems had a much better game as he set up Yoshinori Muto's equaliser against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup three days but Matt Ritchie suffered a horrific injury that left him for four months and we lost the shoot-out, the month ended with a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to Watford with Fabian Schär cancelling out Will Hughes' early opener.
Jetro Willems gave us a surprise early lead at Anfield after the international break but we lost 3-1 and even Andy Carroll's second debut and Allan Saint-Maximin looking lively off the bench after returning from injury couldn't lift the mood as we were lucky to draw 0-0 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion a week later. Another sign of things to come over the next two years came as we lost 5-0 to Leicester City as Isaac Hayden was sent off on an afternoon where the weather really did sum up the mood amongst the fanbase but it was a huge contrast a week later when Matty Longstaff made his Premier League debut alongside brother Sean against Manchester United and scored the only goal of the game. They played alongside each other again in a 1-0 loss at Chelsea and 1-1 draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers as Sean saw red towards the end and when Jonjo Shelvey came back in alongside Isaac Hayden, he had one of his best games in a black and white shirt, including scoring a superb free kick in a 3-2 win at West Ham United. With Lascelles having netted against Wolves, it seemed to be defenders getting our goals as Ciaran Clark and Federico Fernández also scored at the London Stadium and Clark netted the winner against Bournemouth at St James' Park after DeAndre Yedlin equalised with his only home goal for us. After a 2-0 loss at Aston Villa, Shelvey went on to score in three consecutive games - a screamer to earn us a 2-2 draw with defending champions Manchester City, a goal that was initially deemed to be offside against Sheffield United but was given after a VAR check and a header to level things up as we beat Southampton 2-1. We also continued to have defenders scoring as Willems netted against Manchester City and Fernández scored the winner against Southampton, meanwhile Allan Saint-Maximin opened his Magpies account with a header against Sheffield United.
After missing the 1-0 loss at Burnley through injury, Miguel Almirón finally scored his first Magpies goal to give us a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace. Florian Lejeune impressed on his comeback eight months after being stretchered off in a 1-0 loss in the same fixture but injuries at centre-back meant that he ended up playing four games in eleven games and the consequences were grim as he and the other centre-backs struggled, conceding a total of nine goals a week in losses to Manchester United, Everton and Leicester City. We also got held to a 1-1 draw at League One Rochdale in the FA Cup but after a 1-1 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers, we won 4-1 in the replay with academy graduate Tom Allan setting up Joelinton for his first goal at St James' Park and four days later, Isaac Hayden headed home at the death to give us a 1-0 win over Chelsea. Bruce bizarrely sent on three defenders as we trailed 2-0 at Everton but it somehow worked as Lejeune scored an overhead kick to make it 2-1 in stoppage time before another shot from a set piece was indicated to have crossed the line as Jordan Pickford stupidly stood behind it and we came away with a 2-2 draw. Two 0-0 draws on Tyneside followed, however, as Oxford United became the second League One side to earn an FA Cup replay against us and bottom club Norwich City also came away from St James' Park with a point and we threw away a 2-0 lead in the replay at the Kassam Stadium but Allan Saint-Maximin's screamer sent us through. January saw the loan signings of Nabil Bentaleb from Schalke, Valentino Lazaro from Inter Milan and Danny Rose from Tottenham Hotspur whilst Ki Sung-yueng's contract was terminated after only four competitive appearances under Bruce.
After a 4-0 loss at Arsenal and a 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace, Bruce gave up with trying to play a similar formation to Rafa and went with 4-2-3-1, whilst we had another 0-0 draw at home, this time against Burnley, it worked as we beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2 three days later to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals as Miguel Almirón netted a first half brace and Lazaro scored his first goal for us early in the second half. Saint-Maximin scored to give us a deserved 1-0 win at Southampton but six days later, English football was stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Premier League resumed behind closed doors in June (with Euro 2020 being postponed for a year), he opened the scoring as we beat ten men Sheffield United 3-0 and typically, Joelinton scored his first league goal at St James' Park when fans couldn't be there to see it. Ritchie also scored his first goal of the season against the Blades and Dwight Gayle would soon follow against Aston Villa three days later but Ahmed Elmohamady, who played under Bruce at Sunderland, Hull City and Villa, netted from a corner to give Dean Smith's side a point on the first anniversary of our club statement confirming Rafa's departure. Bruce went back to 5-4-1 against Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals and a poor display saw us lose 2-0 but we bounced back by beating Bournemouth 4-1 away from home, a result which proved to be our last win of the season as we were held 2-2 at home by relegation candidates West Ham United and lost 5-0 at Manchester City, 2-1 at Watford and 3-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur. We picked up one more point with another goalless draw against Brighton & Hove Albion before champions Liverpool came from behind to beat us 3-1 for a second time in the season on the final day as we finished 13th once again.
Four days after the end of the season, a takeover by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the Reuben Brothers and PCP Capital Partners fell through despite a deal being agreed with Mike Ashley in April as the Premier League wouldn't give an answer. Meanwhile, transfer business was slow with Jeff Hendrick being confirmed as our first new signing of the summer after he rejected a new deal from Burnley as Nabil Bentaleb returned to Schalke after a horrific loan spell on Tyneside whilst Matty Longstaff signed a two year deal despite his lack of game time whilst the Algerian was underperforming. Further Premier League experience was brought in as Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser signed from Bournemouth and Jamal Lewis came in from Norwich City whilst former Magpies youth goalkeeper Mark Gillespie returned on a free transfer from Motherwell to replace Rob Elliot as a backup to Martin Dúbravka and Karl Darlow after his contract expired.
Wilson and Hendrick got debut goals as we beat West Ham United 2-0 on the opening day whilst Fraser netted on his debut in a 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers in the Carabao Cup before an embarassing 3-0 home loss against Brighton & Hove Albion five days later. Jacob Murphy came back into the side after loan spells at West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield Wednesday and earned a place in our final 25 man squad after a superb display, including a strike from 18 yards out, as we beat Morecambe 7-0 in the Carabao Cup. Wilson netted a stoppage time penalty to give us an undeserved 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur but it took a late strike from Jonjo Shelvey and a penalty shoot-out win to beat Newport County to a place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals before we went into the October international break on a high with a 3-1 win over Burnley as Wilson scored his first two goals at St James' Park. Academy graduate Dan Barlaser was the only player to be sold as there were no squad spaces left and he joined Rotherham United permanently after helping them to promotion from League One on loan there, Florian Lejeune and Yoshinori Muto both went on loan to La Liga, joining Deportivo Alavés and Eibar respectively.
This left us confident that we could beat Manchester United at St James' Park again, even without the fans, especially as they lost 6-1 at home to former manager José Mourinho's Tottenham Hotspur but despite an early Luke Shaw own goal and Karl Darlow becoming the first goalkeeper to save a Bruno Fernandes penalty in the Premier League, we collapsed late on and lost 4-1. Jacob Murphy's late free kick sealed a 1-1 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers before a Callum Wilson double gave us a 2-1 win over high flying Everton then a dreadful display in a 2-0 loss at Southampton brought us back down to earth. Another 2-0 loss, this time at home to Chelsea, was when I first wanted Bruce to go but we did get a 2-0 win ourselves six days later, as Callum Wilson and Joelinton scored late on to give us three points away to Crystal Palace. After a COVID-19 outbreak at our training centre forced our trip to Aston Villa to be postponed, Almirón scored his third goal in two games against West Bromwich Albion and a late Dwight Gayle header gave us a 2-1 win but despite Jeff Hendrick's opener at Leeds United and Ciaran Clark putting us level with a second half header, we were beaten 5-2 by Marcelo Bielsa's outfit and scraped a 1-1 draw in our third consecutive game against newly promoted opposition in a week as Callum Wilson's penalty saved us from defeat at home to Fulham. We then went out the Carabao Cup in embarrassing fashion as Josh Da Silva's second half strike meant we lost 1-0 to Championship promotion challengers Brentford, Matty Longstaff returned to the starting XI for a 2-0 loss at Manchester City on Boxing Day before he impressed in the midfield alongside Isaac Hayden as we held Liverpool to a 0-0 draw in our final game of 2020.
2021 started with a 2-1 loss at home to Leicester City despite Andy Carroll's only goal of his second spell before another academy graduate in 18 year old Elliot Anderson came close to a dream debut winner against holders Arsenal in the FA Cup but saw his shot blocked with Bernd Leno denying Andy Carroll on the rebound. We went on to lose 2-0 in extra time but there were positives from that game, however, a Ryan Fraser red card and a Billy Sharp penalty meant that Sheffield United got their first three points of the season against us as fans really turned on Bruce despite being unable to voice their frustrations in stadiums. After losing 3-0 at Arsenal and 2-0 at Aston Villa, feelings towards him were made clear outside St James' Park, after an improved display despite a home loss against Leeds United, the rot was stopped as Callum Wilson's second half brace gave us a 2-0 win at Everton. January also saw Graeme Jones appointed as assistant coach, an appointment that would help us long term whilst Joe Willock came in loan from Arsenal with DeAndre Yedlin leaving for Galatasaray. After a 2-1 loss at home to Crystal Palace, Willock scored on his debut as we beat Southampton 3-2 despite Jeff Hendrick's red card and an injury to Fabian Schär leaving us down to nine men before we were sucked back into the relegation battles with losses at Chelsea and Manchester United. A Rúben Neves header denied us a home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers as Martin Dúbravka made his first league appearance of the season following a pre season injury and Karl Darlow's impressive form keeping him out the side before a drab 0-0 draw at West Bromwich Albion and Jamaal Lascelles scoring for a second home game running to save us a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa. In my opinion, the worst result of Bruce's reign came the following weekend as we lost 3-0 to relegation rivals Brighton & Hove Albion once again.
Bruce reverted to the 5-3-2 formation for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur and recalled Sean Longstaff to the starting XI, he set Joelinton's opening goal and after a quick fire Harry Kane double, Joe Willock came off the bench to earn us a 2-2 draw against his parent club's bitter rivals. Allan Saint-Maximin came off the bench as we trailed 1-0 in a six pointer at Burnley and changed the game as he set up Jacob Murphy's equaliser before scoring an identical goal to the one he netted against Sean Dyche's side to give us a crucial 2-1 win. We moved nine points of the drop zone as Willock scored another goal off the bench to give us a 3-2 win over West Ham United, he then earned us a stoppage time point at Anfield after Callum Wilson had a goal disallowed by VAR for handball. He was unable to help us the following weekend as we lost 2-0 at home to his parent club Arsenal with Fabian Schär receiving a late red card but he scored yet against as he was recalled to the starting XI away to Leicester City, Paul Dummett headed home for his first goal in over five years, having scored at the wrong end in the 5-0 loss at the King Power Stadium the previous season before Callum Wilson netted a brace as we stunned the FA Cup finalists (and eventual winners) with a 4-2 win as they went on to miss out on Champions League football for a second season running. The visit of newly crowned Premier League champions and Champions League finalists Manchester City was a thrilling affair as Emil Krafth headed home for his first Magpies goal to open the scoring, Willock scored in a fifth consecutive game and a Ferran Torres hat-trick gave Pep Guardiola's side a 4-3 win. Willock scored the only goal as 10,000 fans returned to St James' Park to see a 1-0 win over Sheffield United in our penultimate game and made in seven in seven games in a 2-0 win at Fulham on the final day.
Willock was signed permanently for £22,000,000 but that proved to be the only senior signing of Bruce and Ashley's final summer at St James' Park. We started the season without a win in seven league games and went out the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle, losing to Burnley on penalties but on 7 October, the takeover that looked set to go through before the start of the previous season was finally completed as Saudi Arabia lifted a ban on BeIN Sports in their country. Whilst the new owners were joyous when Callum Wilson gave us an early lead in our next game against Tottenham Hotspur, the fans made their feelings clear about Bruce in the 3-2 defeat and he was sacked three days later. He might have claimed that he was a fan but he showed his true colours by refusing to step down last season and will be remembered for ruining a defence that Rafael Benítez organised excellently, neglecting Matty Longstaff by playing an underperforming Nabil Bentaleb then Jeff Hendrick and Jonjo Shelvey over him before loaning him to Aberdeen whilst his brother Sean went backwards under his coaching, ridiculous press conference quotes and just generally negative football despite having plenty of attacking talent at his disposal.
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