JUST IN: steve Bruce hints on retirement over massive abuse
Steve Bruce has revealed he could quit football entirely after vile abuse from angry Newcastle fans affected not only his mental health, but his wife Janet’s too.
The 60-year-old was sacked by the club’s new mega-rich Saudi owners on Wednesday, and has already admitted he may bow out of management just days after his 1000th game in the dugout
‘I think this might be my last job,’ he told The Telegraph. ‘It’s not just about me, it’s taken its toll on my whole family because they are all Geordies and I can’t ignore that.
‘They have been worried about me… especially my wife Jan. What an amazing woman she is, incredible, she’s just a fantastic woman, wife and mother and grandmother. She dealt with the death of my parents, hers have not been very well. And then she had me to worry about and what I’ve been going through the last couple of years.’
Bruce has been with his wife Janet since their schooldays, and the pair tied the knot in February 1983. They have two children Alex and Amy the former a professional footballer for Macclesfield.
Bruce felt the wrath of Newcastle’s fans on Sunday despite the celebratory atmosphere at the first game under new ownership, with the team going on to lose 3-2 against Tottenham.
The former Manchester United centre back was booed by the crowd, and it was only a matter of time until the club’s new bosses pulled the trigger.
Bruce, though, is well aware that the abuse is not a recent trend, and he has instead been receiving criticism right from the very start in 2019.
READ ALSOSteve Bruce leaves Newcastle by ‘mutual consent’
‘By the time I got to Newcastle, I thought I could handle everything thrown at me but it has been very, very tough,’ he added. ‘To never really be wanted, to feel that people wanted me to fail, to read people constantly saying I would fail, that I was useless, a fat waste of space, a stupid, tactically inept cabbage head or whatever. And it was from day one.
‘When we were doing ok results wise, it was “yeah but the style of football is rubbish” or I was just “lucky.” It was ridiculous and persistent, even when the results were good.’