Alan Shearer has revealed he begged Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce not to take the job, branding it "toxic".
Newcastle legend Shearer warned Bruce he will do well to keep Toon in the Premier League after he was confirmed as the club's new manager on Wednesday.
But Shearer says he admires lifelong Newcastle fan Bruce, 58, "for having the balls to take the job on"
Bruce endured a nightmare first day as Toon boss after taking over from Rafa Benitez , who left to manage Chinese Super League club Dalian Yifang after his contract with Newcastle ended.
The appointment of the former Sunderland manager as head coach on a three-year-deal sparking a furious response from fans, who called for a boycott of the first game of the season.
Meanwhile his previous employers, Championship side Sheffield Wednesday, threatened legal action.
‘Bruce Out’ has been trending on Twitter , and he was immediately installed by bookmakers as the favourite to be the next Premier League manager to lose his job.
But Shearer says if anyone can make it work at Newcastle, it's Bruce.
Shearer, Newcastle's record goalscorer and a former interim manager at St James' Park, went out for dinner with Bruce and told him not to take the job, he said in his column for the Sun .
He said: "My advice to him that night was simple: 'No, no, no, don’t take it.'
"This is without a doubt the toughest and most toxic situation Steve has ever walked into."
Newcastle are the only Premier League club not to have made a signing so far this summer, while their two top scorers from last season, Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon, have left.
Shearer, who scored 148 goals in 10 years at Newcastle and was interim manager in 2009, said Bruce would be performing a miracle to keep the club in the Premier League next season.
But he said if anyone can do it, Bruce could, adding: "I like him a lot and I actually admire him for having the balls to take the job on."
