Former Newcastle striker Dwight Gayle criticised Steve Bruce’s management during a recent podcast appearance and the ex-Magpies boss, now in charge of Blackpool, has hit back
Steve Bruce produced an explosive response after hearing former Newcastle striker Dwight Gayle’s criticism of his management during their time together at St James’ Park. Bruce spent two tumultuous years in the Newcastle dugout and was often criticised by supporters before being sacked just days after the club’s Saudi-backed takeover was announced in October 2021.
Gayle, who now plays for Scottish giants Hibernian, recently appeared on a podcast and slammed Bruce’s tactics and perceived lack of coaching. The 35-year-old claimed that his ex-boss only took a hands-on approach in training once the takeover was done.
After Blackpool, where he’s now in charge, beat Northampton Town 2-0 in League One on Saturday, Bruce was asked by BBC Radio Lancashire about Gayle’s comments. “Is that the legendary Dwight Gayle, who missed the chance in the quarter-final against Manchester City (0-2 defeat in June 2020)?” the ex-Manchester United defender sarcastically replied.
“Is that the same Dwight Gayle? Interesting. 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’s comments, which were made on the Open Goal podcast, were scathing and garnered plenty of attention online in the days after the episode was released. He said: “He (Bruce) was okay but I felt he didn’t spend enough time working on a lot of things with us. He tried to go game-by-game rather than trying to develop us as a team. We could have improved with a lot of things.
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“Obviously, he didn’t do much on the training pitch but when the Saudi owners came in he stuck his boots on and had a whistle, he was like, ‘If I’m going, I’m going to run you into the ground’ so he’s just run us and he’s blowing the whistle and making it into a joke saying they’re over there watching you.
“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.
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“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’.”
Bruce will hope to silence his critics by leading Blackpool to promotion to the Championship. The Tangerines are currently seven points and four places outside of the play-offs.
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