‘You are one of the most gentle people’ - Newcastle winger Allan Saint-Maximin’s emotional goodbye to Steve Bruce

ByRichard Newman

Updated 20/10/2021 at 13:57 GMT

The writing was on the wall for Bruce once the Saudi-led takeover was concluded, but Saint-Maximin has led the tributes for the head coach, describing him as a “caring man and a fair man who never hesitated to protect us”. Club legends, like Alan Shearer, have also thanked Bruce, who has spoken out about the emotional toll the job had on him.

Newcastle winger Allan Saint-Maximin has said an emotional goodbye to head coach Steve Bruce, describing him as “without a doubt, one of the most gentle people that I have ever met in the world of football”.

The former Birmingham, Sunderland and Wigan boss has officially left by ‘mutual consent’, but his departure was widely expected following the Saudi-led takeover of the club. The club are also second from bottom in the Premier League, without a win from eight matches.

Bruce was never universally accepted by Newcastle fans, and he has today given an emotional interview to the Telegraph in which he said: “I thought I could handle everything thrown at me but it has been very, very tough.

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“To never really be wanted, to feel that people wanted me to fail, to read people constantly saying I would fail, that I was useless, a fat waste of space, a stupid, tactically inept cabbage head or whatever. And it was from day one.”

But he will have been given a big boost by the support he has received from arguably Newcastle’s best player, Saint-Maximin, who paid tribute to Bruce on social media.

“You are, without a doubt, one of the most gentle people that I have ever met in the world of football,” he said.

You have been a man of your word, a caring man and a fair man who never hesitated to protect us. I will never forget how you treated me, for that I will be forever grateful.

Club legend Alan Shearer has been critical of the previous ownership model under the now departed Mike Ashley, but he paid tribute to Bruce as a manager and a person.

“I know how tough it was for any manager at Newcastle for the last 14 years,” he tweeted.

“I also know how badly Steve & his family wanted it to work. In difficult circumstances for everybody, he kept #NUFC up for two seasons. It’s a new era now, but thank you, Steve,for your effort & commitment.”

A Geordie through and through, Bruce was in a job he dreamed of having, but he says having reached 1000 professional games in management, he may not ever return to the dugout.

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"It's very difficult,” said Magpies great Lee Clark, responding to Bruce opening up about his experiences at St James’ Park on Sky Sports News.

“It was quite emotional actually. You don't want any manager to be put through that. I think being criticised for how you go about your job professionally is not a problem if you don't get results, but a lot of it turned quite personal, it was about his family.”

You could see it in Steve, his dream job was becoming his nightmare job. It was very tough not just for him but for his family and in some ways he'll be happy it's now over.

Former Newcastle defender Steve Howey agreed, when he gave his reaction to Sky.

"It comes as no surprise,” he said.

“Steve was very spiky, and fair play to him, when he did his interviews with the press on Friday and it will hurt because some of the criticism overstepped the mark for me.

"Yes, you get criticism when results don't go your way but I thought some of it was way over the top and uncalled for because it was personal.”

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