Top 55 Steve Bruce Quotes

I accept I am not everyone’s cup of tea, but judge me over a period of time.

The only way you can respond to anything in football is through results.

When I was younger, I was a bit awkward to work for, hence why I had about five clubs in two years. I was a bit petulant, shall we say. But you’re never too old to keep learning because every day in management, something is thrown at you which throws you a curveball.

If there is one thing that runs through all Geordies, from grandmas to small children, it is a love of Newcastle United.

I judge people, and myself, when you are up against it. When you’ve been beaten like that you have to find out who is alongside you, you roll your sleeves and come out fighting and those are my principles.

I believe in what I do on the training ground.

I want to entertain, I want Newcastle United that is the best it can possibly be.

Every time I took another job, my dad would ask, ‘Why are you putting yourself through it again, haven’t you got enough money?’ I wish I’d spent more time with them, I think anyone who loses their parents will understand that, but I also know what he would have said. ‘You crack on Steve, get on with it, son.’

Nobody wants to lose to bloody Rochdale.

Coming to manage Newcastle was never going to be easy. But there was never a side to me that thought, ‘Oh no, I do not want that.’

It’s not always about money, we got Hull promoted with a collection of loans and waifs and strays.

When I heard the word ‘cancer,’ I was in bits. I panicked, I think everyone does, it was very scary, horrible. Thankfully, the melanoma does not appear to have spread. They’ll continue to monitor me, I’ve got scars on my face, on my back. Good thing I was never worried about my good looks.

Without that real spectacle of a big, noisy St James’ Park or Old Trafford or the Emirates, the certain beauty of watching a game of football even live on the telly is not the same as far as I’m concerned.

We can all take criticism as long as it’s constructive. When it’s complete lies, that’s when it’s disappointing.

You have to keep that equilibrium – not getting too carried away or beating yourself up too badly. As a manager you have to be in the middle all the time. If you take water in, people look at you and say – ‘look at the state he’s in today.’

If our players start to see coaching as a dead end, where is the next Ferguson, the next Clough or Shankly? It’s sad. How will players see a pathway, how are they going to see a future if even the England job goes abroad?

I was just too young to retire as a 52-year-old. I didn’t want to be going out of football after loving it so much.

I saw my mates go off to get apprenticeships on the shipyards and I went off to chase the dream of playing football and made sure I worked hard at it.

I’ve been fortunate enough to win the FA Cup as a player but it’s taken me 15 years as a manager to get to a semi-final.

The reason you come to manage Newcastle is to be in front of 50-odd thousand every week, even if you might get a bit of stick along the way.

When you go to school in the north-east you have to be tough.

The one thing that’s easy to do is go and sign players. What you’ve got to try and do is try and improve them, and get better.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have some big games as both a player and a manager.

I’m delighted and incredibly proud to be appointed as head coach of Newcastle United.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the job is seeing a young fella who you give a debut to or you buy and see them progress.

Alan Shearer is a friend of mine and he is entitled to his opinions.

You know, I’m not one of these where football is everything in my life. It never has been and there have always been things that are more important to me.

My loyalty was questioned for a long time when I was younger, and that’s understandable. I found it very difficult to conform and I wanted to do it all my way.

My job’s about the accumulation of points over a 10-month season. And if you’re with a team expected to be in the bottom half of the Premier League it’s always going to be tough. There’s going to be periods when you go up and down.

It’s very difficult to win a title.

At Sunderland I balanced the books and managed them to this position of 10th and 13th. My record stacks up.

I had 235 games for Gillingham in the old Third Division. Everybody associates me with Man United and winning things but I had seven years at Gillingham and 3 at Norwich. One of those years we got relegated. Until I was 30, 31, I hadn’t really won anything.

I remember going 14 games at Man U without winning.

I don’t think you can manage 400 games in the Premier League, 550 in the Championship, play 980 times and not be a little bit organised.

I know what it means to the supporters of Newcastle to try and win something and realistically, the cup competitions are our best route.

I’ve said it for a long time that Aston Villa is a special club.

Your boyhood club, the one you’ve supported, the one result that you look for more than anybody else because of my upbringing, has always been Newcastle so to go and manage it is arguably the pinnacle but it’s a really difficult job, I have to tell you.

You do get labelled in the game, and that’s why I enjoyed my time managing in the Championship. I’d back myself against most people in that division.

Man-management far outweighs sports science.

A lot of businessman come into football find it difficult. They think because they have more money to throw at it, that will work. Of course money helps but it doesn’t guarantee success.

This country always wants the underdog to win, that’s in our nature.

I never thought I’d be in a position like I was at Aston Villa where people weren’t going to get paid on a Friday. That’s how bad it was. It looks great from the outside but we had huge financial problems for months.

If you manage Newcastle, you have to deal with the consequences.

When you’re taking on a Sean Dyche team, you know what’s coming.

I analyse performances on the pitch rather than any warm-up.

Call me old fashioned, but we’re now holding umbrellas up as our players get off a plane. Do they need that? It’s a few spots of rain. OK, they might get wet. Well, let them get wet. That’s what happens when it rains.

No one hates someone spitting at someone more than I do and it is frowned upon in our country. It is a horrible, horrible thing to do.

All you can try to be is as honest as you possibly can.

It’s the manager’s job to always knock on the door, to always strive to improve, but there has to be a reasonable degree of common sense too.

You have to make sure you lead from the front and put a brave face on it during the tough times to bring people with you and get out of it.

I was never blessed with any real ability but I loved the game and made up for anything I lacked with sheer hard work.

I think as a manager you have always got to be looking at how you can improve.

Management, whether you’re managing in the lower division or you’re right at the top, is about getting the best out of what you’ve got.

Only those who have lost their parents will know what it is like. It is horrific, it is hard and it breaks your heart, it really does.

I have not got a CV like Rafa, few do.