Alan Shearer has shared his feelings on watching how Steve Bruce's managerial reign played out at St James' Park.
The former Magpies forward, has admitted before that he advised Bruce against taking the job and he told Gary Neville how it 'hurt' him to see Bruce struggling so badly at Newcastle.
"I’m a good pal of Steve’s and his family and it hurt me to watch what he had to go through," Shearer told Gary Neville on The Overlap.
"Football is brutal – as you know – as Steve’s big enough and honest enough to tell you that when you’re not getting results you have to take the flak.
"When that happens you’re going to get hammered whether you like it or not. When you go into that position as manager you have to accept that you’re going to have to take that on the chin."
However, Shearer felt that Bruce should have been given more respect for the job which he did at the club.
"In terms of the last two years, from what he had, in terms of where they got to in league position, I think he punched above their weight so in the end I felt for him but it was the reason why I said to him I didn’t want him to take it because I was aware of (how it would go)," he added.
Neville asked Shearer why he had advised his friend against taking the job, Newcastle's record goalscorer replied, "I knew how difficult the club was to manage. He took on almost an impossible situation because of what the fans wanted, what the owner was and in terms of putting into the football club.
"It was almost an impossible job for Steve after coming in and trying to follow Rafa (Benitez) because I was aware of what Rafa meant to the people here and how he communicated with the people here. He was very cleaver, Rafa, in terms of what he did. He did a good job but he was also very clever in terms of talking about the owner."
Shearer then pointed out that the records of the two managers were very similar but that Benitez was far better at getting the fans on side, whilst Bruce found himself constantly to blame when things went wrong.
Bruce was relieved of his duties following the first game after the Saudi Arabian PIF fund backed ownership took control of the club. Graeme Jones had been in charge ever since, until Eddie Howe was appointed as new manager at the beginning of the international break.
