Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville believes Newcastle United's St James' Park has lost its life, but it has nothing to do with Steve Bruce.
The Magpies boss has come in for fierce criticism after his side were beaten 5-0 by Leicester City last weekend, with pundits and fans taking aim at Bruce over the way he sets his side up.
But Neville believes Bruce would have known what to expect when he took the job in the summer, and insists due to his managerial experience, will be refusing to panic over his side's poor start to the season.
“Steve knew coming up here what he was going to get, it’s not going to be a shock to him, and having 400 games under his belt, he’s not going to panic,” he told Sky Sports.
“The players don’t respond to panic, they don’t respond to what I call is instruction, you have to collaborate with them and sort of massage them, so I think he’s got the ability to be open-minded and change.
“In a perfect world as a manager, you come into a club and you install all your own beliefs but I think you don’t get the time anymore, you have to just get the results because of the threat of relegation. He’s got the temperament for it, it’s whether he has got the players.
“I have not liked coming up here for three or four years, it has bored me to death coming up here.
“This ground is probably the ground which I thought was the hotbed of English football and, for me, the life has gone. It’s nothing to do with Steve Bruce, it’s a whole different thing.”
