Steve Bruce has admitted that he fears he will be sacked by Newcastle United’s new Saudi Arabian owners.
The Magpies are now under new ownership after a £305million deal was agreed with Mike Ashley and signed off by the Premier League.
The Premier League confirmed the takeover had been signed off after receiving ‘legally binding assurances’ that the Saudi state would not control the club – and Bruce believes the writing is now on the wall regarding his future.
‘I want to continue, I’d like the chance to show the new owners what I can do, but you have to be realistic and they may well want a new manager to launch things for them,’ Bruce told the Telegraph. ‘New owners normally want a new manager. I’ve been around long enough to understand that.
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‘That decision is not up to me. I accept that and I will accept what comes my way. I have to wait to have those conversations with people when the time is right.
‘If I don’t make it to a 1,000 games against Spurs, you might say that could only happen to me, but I don’t think it would be cruel. It’s just football.’
‘I am not going to be bitter or angry about anything, whatever happens. Of course there will be sadness if I lose my job, it’s the job I’ve wanted my whole life, certainly since I became a manager and as hard as it’s been, I have been enormously proud to be manager of Newcastle United. That will never change.’
Shortly after the takeover announced, Amanda Staveley, Chief Executive Officer of PCP Capital Partners and one of the main driving forces in getting the takeover done, revealed that she has already spoken to Bruce and club captain Jamaal Lascelles about the club’s future, before insisting that she’s made no decision on whether Bruce will lead the club forward into the new era.
The news will delight Newcastle fans, who flocked to St James’ Park to celebrate that the takeover had been completed on Thursday.
The north-east club are now set to become one of the richest in the world, and it is expected that the takeover will pave the way for a spending spree in the coming transfer windows.
Bruce has come under heavy criticism from Newcastle fans in recent years, with the Newcastle United Supporters Trust calling for him to resign in the ‘best interests’ of the club.