Steve Bruce has sent his Newcastle United squad a warning after their 3-1 defeat against Norwich City on Saturday.
The Magpies’ boss has told his side that they can not take the Newcastle fans for granted as the stands continue to be filled despite previous warnings of potential boycotts at fixtures.
Bruce delivered his warning after the second defeat in as many games at Norwich as quoted by the Chronicle, revealing how the squad were disappointed some fans decided to leave early.
“It is a big disappointment and it always will be,” he said.
“You can’t take them for granted. They had a long way home after a disappointing performance.”
Newcastle struggled all afternoon at Carrow Road and leaked many chances as the game went on, eventually being downed by a clinical hat-trick from the prolific Teemu Pukki.
OPINION
Bruce is spot on, no team will ever be happy to lose and then see that their performance has sent the fans home early, but also more importantly delivered the warning not to take them for granted. It’s hard to select more loyal fans in the footballing chain in England, with the Magpies’ faithful going through years of mismanagement and unfulfilled promises from their owner Mike Ashley. They can be forgiven for looking past that, with the main results needed on the pitch, and what they have seen so far is simply not good enough. It is all good that Bruce is warning his team, but he must also take the warning on board himself, and not take the fans for granted by making clear mistakes in his line ups. Ki was clearly out of his depth and was simply not good enough, whereas Isaac Hayden was pushed wider by Bruce in a midfielder three – a position where he couldn’t disrupt Norwich in their attacks. On top of that, Newcastle’s attack was isolated once more and Bruce must take his own advice if he is to start picking up points in the coming weeks.
