Newcastle eye interim manager with Paulo Fonseca on radar - but Steve Bruce set to be in charge against Spurs

Newcastle eye interim manager - but Steve Bruce set to be in charge for Tottenham clash - REUTERS
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Newcastle United are discussing appointing an experienced interim manager to replace Steve Bruce until a more permanent appointment can be made.

Bruce will undertake media duties on Friday ahead of Sunday’s Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur, which will be the first under the new Saudi-led ownership.

The fact that Bruce is speaking before what would be his 1,000th game as a manager clearly suggests that he will now take charge of the game, although that was not the expectation last weekend. However, so fluid is the situation that it is still possible he may not be in the dug-out.

Newcastle’s new owners, principally the Saudi Public Investment Fund, are “process-driven” and would prefer to bide their time to make the right appointment rather than rush into one. It also means every decision has to be fully explained and accounted for. But there is an acceptance that Bruce should still probably go, which has raised the possibility of an interim appointment.

There is precedence for this, chiefly at Chelsea. Guus Hiddink was twice interim manager - from February to May 2009 before Carlo Ancelotti was appointed and from December 2015 to June 2016 before the arrival of Antonio Conte - while Rafael Benitez also took the role from November 2012 to May 2013.

There is little prospect, at present, of Benitez making a return to St James’s Park. The Spaniard is enjoying being manager of Everton and although he has close links with the new owners at Newcastle, where his associate and friend Owen Brown is an adviser, he will not walk out on his current deal.

Rafael Benitez has ruled out a return to Newcastle - AP
Rafael Benitez has ruled out a return to Newcastle - AP

One of the managers on Newcastle’s radar is understood to be Portuguese coach Paulo Fonseca, who took AS Roma to the Europa League semi-final last season and guided the Italian club following their own takeover in 2020.

Fonseca was replaced by Jose Mourinho in the summer and has been looking for the right opportunity to return.

The 48 year-old was in talks with Tottenham Hotspur before a deal collapsed but has previously stated he has ambitions to work in the Premier League and believes his attacking style of football would suit England, following his spells in Portugal and Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk.

Paulo Fonseca - ROMA
Paulo Fonseca - ROMA

Brendan Rodgers, who had been linked, has ruled himself out and remains fully committed to Leicester City. Frank Lampard and former Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre, who are both out of work, remain on the list although the new owners are understood to be considering a large number of candidates.

Newcastle’s first priority is avoiding relegation given they have failed to win any of their first seven league games and are 19th in the table.

After that the new owners, with Amanda Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners having the management contract, are intent on building the club slowly and not spending heavily during this initial period in the transfer market.

They are also concentrating on two key appointments - a new chief executive, to replace managing director Lee Charnley who is staying on for a handover period, and a sporting director.


'Complete and utter chaos': Why Newcastle haven't found another manager to replace Bruce

By Luke Edwards

Steve Bruce takes Newcastle training - GETTY IMAGES
Steve Bruce takes Newcastle training - GETTY IMAGES

“It is chaos, complete and utter chaos” is how one well-placed observer described Newcastle United’s first week under their new owners.

Like most revolutions, the first few days have also been the most volatile, confused and unpredictable. It is why Steve Bruce has still not been sacked as manager and why he now seems increasingly likely to be in the dug-out for the first game of the new era against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Yet Newcastle's takeover also has its own peculiar complications, most obviously the fact that there are three different strands to the consortium - Amanda Staveley, Jamie Reuben and, most significantly, the Public Investment Fund. All have their own ideas and advisors who are all jostling for position.

Throw in the fact that the takeover actually happened in breathless fashion, after 18 months of deadlock, allowing little time for detailed planning, and it is no wonder things feel dysfunctional.

What the first seven days of the new era have taught us is that while Staveley may be the public face of the consortium, the power and control is firmly in the hands of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the new club’s chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is based in Riyad, the Saudi Arabian capital.

It is understood that while PIF, which owns 80 per cent of Newcastle's shares, initially wanted to fade into the background, largely in order to manage expectations, it is keeping a watchful eye on everything. It intends to be an active investor rather than passive money provider and every decision is being questioned, scrutinised and then effectively decided by PIF.

Staveley, as well as Reuben, the other non-executive director, are also effectively on trial. Their new jobs are exciting and very visible, but they have begun with a probation period. The Saudis want to assess them and gauge whether they are capable of delivering what they want in terms of running the club on a day-to-day basis on their behalf.

Amanda Staveley (left) and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi (right) at St James' Park - GETTY IMAGES
Amanda Staveley (left) and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi (right) at St James' Park - GETTY IMAGES

There is no sense of division or animosity, even if the huge variety of names being linked to the jobs of manager, sporting director and chief executive is mainly down to the fact they all have different candidates in mind.

The new regime is trying to do things the right way, seeking advice from those with more detailed knowledge of English football, and the hope must be that things will settle down, as they did with Manchester City when they were taken over by their oil-rich state backers more than a decade ago. That situation was, as one source told Telegraph Sport, “exactly the same” as Newcastle are going through.

“There is no need to worry,” they added. “Things will settle down once they have the right people in place in the senior management roles.”

In the meantime, the challenge for the new owners is to cut through the noise of the competing voices in the court of St James' Park. If they do not, there is a serious danger of conflicting messages being issued.

Bruce's future has been a case in point. The manager's impending departure had been widely expected last week because people connected to the consortium believed it to be true: that message, however, began to be retracted at the start of this week.

When Staveley and her husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, met Bruce at the training ground for the first time on Monday, the prospect of him losing his job was not mentioned. They did not talk about wanting to replace him, but rather thanked him for the job he had done for the past two years in keeping Newcastle in the Premier League and the way he had talked about the takeover for the last 18 months.

Amanda Staveley (right) and Mehrdad Ghodoussi (left) at Newcastle's training ground - GETTY IMAGES
Amanda Staveley (right) and Mehrdad Ghodoussi (left) at Newcastle's training ground - GETTY IMAGES

It is believed that the Saudis remain unconvinced by the notion of sacking Bruce - despite his unpopularity with supporters - when no long-term replacement has been lined up. Indeed, PIF seems to appreciate the job Bruce has done and wants to show him respect.

After that Monday meeting, Bruce was told he would hear back from the board in the next 24 hours. He has not been told anything because nobody knew what the final decision from the Saudis was.

The first person Bruce heard from on Thursday was the club’s press officer telling him his press conference for the Spurs game had been moved back to Friday afternoon rather than its usual morning slot.

By Thursday evening, there was still no word, so the prospects of Bruce getting his 1,000th game as a manager at St James’ Park have now gone from remote to probable - not least because the Saudi weekend begins on Friday and it is unusual for important business to be conducted then. Sacking Bruce with less than 48 hours to go until a match would also cause even more disruption to the team.

The mood at training on Wednesday had deteriorated. The players lacked focus, unsure if Bruce still had authority over them. Staff members, worried about their job security, were increasingly downbeat. Bruce has tried to smile through it but his irritation has also increased the longer the uncertainty has gone on.

It is almost impossible to believe Bruce will still be there when the January window opens, and one scenario which is gaining traction is the appointment of an interim manager, but nothing is certain.

From the chaos will come order, but we are not there yet. After all, the football revolution on Tyneside has only just begun.