A number of Newcastle United supporters have been reacting to a report from Chronicle Live that the Magpies would be required to pay out £1.5m in compensation were they to sack Steve Bruce.
The manager has come under intense scrutiny over the last few weeks and that pressure has not eased by the Magpies extending their dismal run of form to nine winless matches following a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal on Monday night. That result also means that Newcastle have managed to register just one goal in their last seven matches in all competitions.
Bruce had somewhat thrown down the gauntlet to his players after the awful performance in the 1-0 defeat at Sheffield United, and he suggested that he would start to do things “my way now”. Whilst there was a shift to a more adventurous 4-4-2 formation against the Gunners, there was little change in terms of the pattern of play and creativity in the final third at the Emirates.
Despite all of the growing pressure on Bruce’s shoulders, it has been reported that Mike Ashley is prepared to keep backing the manager unless Newcastle drop into the relegation zone, per Chronicle Live. It is now being reported that the Magpies would need to pay out £1.5m to terminate Bruce’s contract early, along with the fees which would be involved in hiring a replacement.
NEW: Mike Ashley faced with hefty bill if he decides to replace Steve Bruce (✍️ @lee_ryder)
https://t.co/EPPuMo0tCS— The Chronicle (@ChronicleNUFC) January 19, 2021
Newcastle fans urge Ashley to pay out fees to get rid of Bruce
Chronicle Live shared the update on Twitter and it unsurprisingly attracted a lot of reaction from Newcastle supporters. Many feel that getting relegated and potentially losing the prospect of any takeover far outweigh the costs of getting rid of Bruce now and therefore urged Ashley to make that decision swiftly.
He'll have bigger problems when relegation knocks 100 million off the value of the Club.
— 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝘆𝗻𝗲 #NUFC (@ToonMouthTyne) January 19, 2021
£1.5m is hardly hefty, we're probably paying more each to Saivet, Atsu and Lazaar to sit and twiddle their thumbs.
Also, paying £1.5m now (plus new boss), is nothing compared to losing ~£200m for being in the Championship, with more games and no guarantee of ticket income.
— David W. Duffy (@Olucaron) January 19, 2021
Exactly the reason he won’t do what needs to be done!! Itl end up like what it did when mclaren was in charge, try change it to little too late and boom there goes your 300m
— wilson007 (@wilson00718) January 19, 2021
Speculate to accumulate! Bigger worry financially WHEN we go down.
— Jeff King (@UncleJeffThinks) January 19, 2021
He will face an even bigger bill if he does nothing and Bruce takes us down!!
— David Fish (@dfish1980) January 19, 2021
Ashley needs to sack him as the cost of relegation which will happen is more costly in the long as we won’t come back up
— nick entwisle (@NEntwisle) January 19, 2021
https://twitter.com/BarryBlakely/status/1351425339231252482?s=19
Not half as big as the bill he'll face for relegation #nufc https://t.co/RzIXEF5z6S
— Chris Nove (@chrisnove) January 19, 2021
