The Chronicle journalist Lee Ryder has revealed what Newcastle United head coach Steve Bruce likely discussed with managing director Lee Charnley after Sunday’s mauling at Leicester City.
It’s believed that Charnley met with Bruce in the tunnel after the Magpies’ 5-0 humiliation against the Foxes, and Ryder has shone a little more light on the situation.
“It’s not usually something that happens after an away game,” he wrote during a Chronicle Q & A on Wednesday. “In the past Charnley has deemed it as not a great time to speak to the head coach amidst media duties and team debriefs.
“It is a busy time for the head coach after a game as the team bus is usually waiting to set off for the airport. But Charnley spent time with Bruce so it was serious enough to either relay a message from above (Ashley) or indicate that standards had slipped below the expected level.”
OPINION
This is an interesting update from Ryder, isn’t it? Clearly this is not something that Charnley normally does, for the reasons Ryder outlined above. Obviously after a game the head coach has to sit down with his players and assess how the game went, and what went drastically wrong for the Magpies on this occasion. After that Bruce has to speak to the media, which can be a lengthy process considering that there are both television and radio broadcasters for him to talk to. So you can see why Charnley doesn’t normally do this, particularly on an away day. However, clearly there was something he wanted to discuss with Bruce, and Ryder has revealed what the two likeliest topics of their conversation were. Given how poorly Newcastle performed, you’d have to say that it’s more likely that it was the second option, i.e. standards dropping. Also, Mike Ashley is about as uninvolved an owner as it’s possible to be, so perhaps it’s unlikely that Charnley was relaying a message to Bruce from the boss.
