Former Newcastle United Spits Dwight Gayle has sensational claimed that former manager Steve Bruce once told his team: “I don't do tactics!”
Bruce, the current Blackpool -Baas, was in charge of St James' Park between July 2019 and October 2021, when he was replaced by Eddie Howe shortly after the club's takeover by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi -Arabia.
Under Bruce, Newcastle won 28 games, pulled another 28 and lost 41.
Speaking at the Open Doelpodcast this week, Gayle remembered how Bruce's neglect for small details made him shocked during a 5-0 defeat in Manchester City in 2020.
Gayle said: 'I remember that some guys were actually thrown into the man City Shift.
'We had a week of three games, and I think the Gaffer threw some of the boys under the bus in terms of who had to play against Man City. And I and Matty Ritchie asked for weeks or months for tactical improvements or whatever.
'And then we come in during the break, and I think we were 2-0 or 3-0 lower, and he is like:' guys, you keep asking tactics-I don't do tactics! Just put on your boots and work hard. '
'[Against] Man City, that's not good enough to be like: “Just run around!” I was just in shock, but yes, that's what he said. '
Gayle, who scored 34 goals for Newcastle between 2016 and 2022, also claimed that he and his teammates used to find some of Bruce's comments in press conferences hilarious.
'Oh size, [there were] Some classics, “Gayle added. 'We used to died.
He always said some crackers in the interviews, man. “How's the bacon?” That was so funny.
'We used to giggle about it. Again, I and Karl Darlow just died. '
Bruce apparently also produced moments of comedy on the training field, especially in his last days in the club.
According to Gayle, he generally left his coaching team to have training sessions. But that changed after the Saudi takeover.
Gayle explained: 'He didn't really do much on the training pitch. But when, when the Saudi owners came in, he lit his boots and the whistle and said, “If I go, I will put you in the ground,” or something.
'So we do some running exercises and he just runs us and he blows his whistle and it's just a bit of a joke and such. He is something like: “They are looking at you there!”
Asked if the training was good under Bruce in general, Gayle replied: 'It was okay. I felt that he might not spend enough time working on many things with us.
'I think he was trying to go game per game instead of developing us as a team. I just felt that we could have improved with many things. '
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