Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher slammed some Newcastle United players as "an absolute disgrace" ahead of the team's clash with Leeds United on Friday.
Newcastle went into the game with Leeds seeking their first win of the new Premier League season, having struggled for form in the early weeks of the 2021-22 campaign.
Following a disappointing start, fans' ire has continued to intensify on manager Steve Bruce, who has long been deeply unpopular among the fanbase.
A insight into the tension at Newcastle at the moment surfaced in national media reports of alleged training ground bust-ups.
When asked about Newcastle's situation ahead of Friday's clash at St James' Park, Carragher suggested some players were to blame for the story getting out and didn't mince his words in analysing the leak from behind the scenes.
"What I would say this morning is I read a newspaper article which is obviously coming from players in the dressing room leaking four or five stories on the morning of a match as big as this I think is an absolute disgrace, it really was," he said on the Sky Sports broadcast.
"Steve Bruce will get the criticism whether they think he’s good enough for this club, yeah or no, we analyse that on our show and it’s boring to talk about Mike Ashley, he’s got no interest in this football club going forward.
"But these players have got to look at themselves as well, not just in terms of performance but I’m talking about feeding stories about a manager or training regime or questions going on behind the scenes. It’s not right.
"You should not be waking up as a Newcastle supporter reading across a double spread in a national newspaper talking about the manager, who said what to who, it’s not right, it’s a disgrace."
