Sheffield Wednesday boss Steve Bruce won’t be given the final say on transfers if he is appointed the next Newcastle United manager, according to the Northern Echo.
The newspaper claims that the Magpies are attempting to agree a compensation fee with the Owls to bring the veteran boss to St James’ Park as Rafael Benitez’s replacement.
However, it’s thought that he won’t have the last call on who is brought into the club, something which was a sticking point throughout Benitez’s failed negotiations with Newcastle owner Mike Ashley and managing director Lee Charnley.
He will, though, be given the £50million war chest, plus whatever is raised through player sales, that was promised to the Spaniard earlier this summer.
OPINION
How annoyed would you be if you were Benitez and Newcastle refused you freedom in the transfer market only to allow Bruce that exact same privilege? A man who has achieved a fraction of what the Spaniard has in his managerial career. So this is something that makes sense. Clearly the Newcastle hierarchy are intensely committed to their way of doing things, and aren’t willing to change their policy. If they weren’t going to do it for Benitez, a world class manager who is adored by the Toon Army, they weren’t going to give Bruce the A-OK, were they? It would be interesting to know how Bruce feels about a limitation being put on his ability to recruit, because the Northern Echo’s report states that he has always enjoyed the freedom to sign who he wanted at his previous clubs. However, their report also states that he tends to sign experienced professionals, something that simply doesn’t jive with Newcastle’s current way of doing things. Perhaps that’s why the club have shut down any talk of him having the final say in the transfer market.
