An anonymous Newcastle player has dropped a major hint that the dressing room atmosphere at Newcastle is in tatters.
What’s the story?
According to Football Insider, one star has told friends he has ‘never seen a football club and dressing room fall apart’ in the manner that it has at Newcastle.
It is believed by the source that some players have ‘openly expressed concerns’ that Steve Bruce may still be in the Magpies’ dugout next season, even if Newcastle suffer relegation and find themselves in the Championship next season.
Aside from a crushing 3-0 defeat against Brighton, players are said to be dismayed at the board’s continued backing of Bruce.
The Daily Mail has claimed that Bruce has scheduled extra days off for Newcastle despite the club’s precarious position – something adding further fuel to an inferno that looks to be increasingly raging behind the scenes.
Many players are said to have ‘lost all confidence’ in Bruce, rendering the manager as a toxic source irradiating vexation around the club. He is a ‘driving force’ behind much of the ill sentiment being emitted, and his position looks increasingly untenable.
That has caused on Newcastle player, anonymised only as an ‘experienced international, to confide that ‘he has never seen anything comparable to the meltdown at the club’s Darsley Park headquarters in recent days’.
The Verdict
If Bruce loses the squad, the threat of open revolt must surely be looming.
Mike Ashley is rumoured to owe Bruce a £4 million compensation fee according to The Times, which may be the rope used to tie down the club to Bruce’s whims.
If that is the factor keeping Bruce beyond his time at the club, it seems a contractual nightmare could be fuelling a wider club crisis.