- Steve Bruce was Newcastle United manager from July 2019 to October 2021
- Dwight Gayle played under him and made some surprising comments this week
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Is England’s squad good enough to win the World Cup?
Steve Bruce has fired back at Dwight Gayle after the former Newcastle striker criticised his tactical approach during their time together at St James’ Park.
Bruce, who is the current Blackpool boss, was in charge of the Magpies between July 2019 and October 2021 before being replaced by Eddie Howe shortly after the club’s takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Speaking on the Open Goal podcast this week, Gayle recalled how Bruce’s apparent disregard for small details left him shocked during a 5-0 defeat at Manchester City in 2020.
Gayle said: ‘I remember like some of the boys got chucked into the Man City shift, basically.
‘We had like a three-game week, and I think the gaffer sort of chucked a few of the boys under the bus in terms of who had to play against Man City away. And me and Matty Ritchie were asking for tactical improvements for weeks or months or whatever.
‘And then we come in at half-time, and I think we were 2-0 or 3-0 down, and he’s like, “Boys, you keep asking for tactics – I don’t do tactics! Just put your boots on and work hard”. [Against] Man City, that’s not good enough to be like, “Just run about!” I was just in shock, but yeah, that’s what he said.’
Steve Bruce had some strong words in response to Dwight Gayle’s comments about him
Gayle spoke about his experiences under Bruce on a recent episode of the Open Goal podcast
And Bruce did not hold back as he was asked about the comments on Sunday.
‘Is that the legendary Dwight Gayle, who missed the chance in the quarter-final against Manchester City? Is that the same Dwight Gayle? Interesting,’ he told BBC Radio Lancashire.
‘I’ve been around the block a long, long time. I’ve only managed 1,050 games but according to Dwight, I don’t know what I’m doing.
‘I’ll let other people make their minds up who are a bit more established than Dwight ever was.’
Gayle, who scored 34 goals in 122 games for Newcastle between 2016 and 2022, also claimed that he and his team-mates used to find some of Bruce’s comments in press conferences hilarious.
‘Oh mate, [there were] some classics,’ Gayle added. ‘We used to die.
He used to say some crackers in the interviews, man. ‘How’s the bacon?’ That was so funny.
‘We used to just giggle about it. Again, me and Karl Darlow used to just be dying.’
Gayle explained: ‘He didn’t really do much on the training pitch. But then, obviously, when the Saudi owners came in, he stuck his boots on and the whistle and was like, “If I’m going, then I’m going to run you into the ground,” or something like that.
Bruce oversaw 28 wins, 28 draws and 41 defeats, including a 5-0 loss at Man City in 2020
‘So, we’re doing some running drills and he’s just running us and he’s blowing his whistle and it’s just, like, making it into a little bit of a joke and stuff. He’s like, “They’re over there watching you!”
Asked if training was good under Bruce overall, Gayle replied: ‘It was OK. I felt that he didn’t perhaps spend enough time on working on a lot of things with us.
‘I think he was trying to go game by game rather than perhaps develop us as a team. I just felt like we could have improved with a lot of things.’
