Eight days after getting their club back, it was the statement the Toon Army did not want to see. A post on Newcastle United’s website on Friday afternoon announced a landmark event: Steve Bruce’s 1,000th game in football management.
Bruce, the Newcastle manager and symbol for so many supporters of the worst lows of the Mike Ashley era, was to stay in his job for at least one more match, Sunday’s Premier League face‑off with Spurs. This was not what fans had been hoping for. Indeed, it was not what they had been led to expect.
In the second paragraph of the club statement, there were words from Amanda Staveley, the PCP Capital Partners financier who now holds a 10% stake in the club, a seat on the board and …