Steve Bruce named him the best Newcastle United player he ever managed but Dan Ashworth went and got rid

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Newcastle United fans won’t look back at Steve Bruce’s time as manager in good spirits.

It was always going to be difficult to come in and win over the fans after Rafael Benitez had left, but for Steve Bruce, nothing ever clicked between him and the fans.

Born in Corbridge, just a 30-minute drive from St James’ Park, it must have felt like a dream for him to be offered the Newcastle United job. After so many years in management, Bruce was finally managing his boyhood club. The unfortunate reality is his time at the club was full of displeasure from the fans coupled with dreadful tactical approaches to games.

Bruce was sacked following the PIF’s takeover of Newcastle in 2021, they gave him one game to impress, a 3-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. Former Newcastle owner Amanda Staveley claimed Bruce “didn’t want to go to work” after the takeover was completed, perhaps knowing that his time at the club was on a knife edge.

When the decision was made that he would leave, Bruce recommended Eddie Howe for the Newcastle job but also suggested Steven Gerrard in a move that could have proven disastrous for the club at the time.

While there were a lot of negatives surrounding his time at the club, Bruce signed players who are still at the club to this day. In 2022, Bruce named the best players he managed and included one Newcastle star whose career has taken a negative turn since leaving.

• READ MORE – Manager who was ‘really close’ to beating Eddie Howe to Newcastle job faces seven month ban after meltdown

Steve Bruce loved Allan Saint-Maximin at Newcastle

Former Newcastle winger Allan Saint-Maximin could be a joy to watch at times. On other occasions, he could be incredibly frustrating.

Despite that, Bruce loved Saint-Maximin at Newcastle, admitting at times he could be ‘breathtaking’ in training.

The Frenchman stayed at Newcastle following Bruce’s departure but failed to produce the same quality under Eddie Howe as he did under previous management. Saint-Maximin played in the 2023 Carabao Cup final and arguably had Newcastle’s best chance, nearly finding the back of the net with the scores level.

In 2022, Bruce spoke to the Telegraph and named the best XI he managed and included Saint-Maximin in that list, the only Newcastle player on it.

In the same interview, Bruce also opened up on his time at Newcastle, saying: “I’m glad I did the job. Look, it ended badly, but for two years we did ok. My job was to keep us in the Premier League, and I did that. It might take a decade, a bit like Sunderland, but I hope one day people can say: “He didn’t do too bad in the circumstances, with the owner and everything else… end of.”

Former sporting director Dan Ashworth sold Saint-Maximin to Saudi Pro League side Al-Alhi in 2023 for around £23m, the winger failed to produce the same magic he did at Newcastle and was loaned out to Fenerbahce for the 2024/25 campaign where he is managed by Jose Mourinho.

Reports in January suggested that Saint-Maximin was close to joining Napoli but the move collapsed in the latter stages of the window.

Players signed by Steve Bruce now thriving under Eddie Howe

Howe has worked his magic on several players at Newcastle, Bruce-managed stars included. Nobody could have predicted the comeuppance Joelinton has had since Howe took over, though. The Brazilian looked down and out as a striker, struggling to find the net or have any impact on games.

One night at St James’ Park completely changed everything when Joelinton was forced to move into midfield following Ciaran Clark’s sending-off against Norwich. The 27-year-old became one of the most feared midfielders in the league, using his strength and confidence to be a real bully in the middle of the park.

• READ MORE – Steve Bruce has just made ‘brutally honest’ claim about Joelinton at Newcastle United

Howe also vastly improved the likes of Fabian Schar, who was signed by Benitez but spent a lot of his first years at the club managed by Bruce. Even at 33 years old Schar still has a solidified place in Newcastle’s starting XI.

The current Toon boss has even improved players who aren’t regular starters, not many fans would have thought Emil Krafth would still be playing for Newcastle in 2025. The Swede has just signed a new contract to keep him on Tyneside until the end of the 2025/26 season.