Former Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce
Former Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce
Former Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce has apologised for his X-Rated on-air blast at Dwight Gayle's criticism of his tactical approach.
The pair have been embroiled in a public spat in recent days after Gayle, now at Hibernian, slammed Bruce's approach to matches during their time together at St James' Park.
Gayle made 45 appearances under Bruce on Tyneside, scoring five goals. But the 35-year-old played just 20 minutes in the Premier League in the 2021/22 season before Bruce was sacked.
Speaking to the Open Goal podcast, Gayle explained: "He was okay. I felt that he didn't perhaps spend enough time on working on a lot of things with us.
"I think he was trying to go game by game, rather than perhaps developing us as a team. I just feel like we could've improved with a lot of things."
Bruce, who is now in charge of League One side Blackpool, was asked about Gayle's comments following the Tangerines' 2-0 win at Northampton Town on Saturday.
A frustrated Bruce retorted: "Is that the legendary Dwight Gayle, who missed the chance in the quarter-final against Manchester City? Is that the same Dwight Gayle? Interesting.
"I've been around the block a long long time. I've only managed 1,050 games but according to Dwight I don't know what I'm doing. I'll let other people make their minds up who are a bit more established than Dwight ever was."
Now, Bruce has doubled down on his blast of Gayle in an eye-opening interview with talkSPORT, though he did later apologise after swearing while live on-air with Jeff Stelling.
Bruce said on Tuesday: "Obviously not very well. Yeah, I was, listen, how I got regurgitated again when Newcastle have had their best week in 70-odd years is typical of my time probably in the North East, you know.
"I was surprised and disappointed with some of the comments that Dwight made because half of it was, well, exaggerated to say the least and the other half was just lies basically, which I found very, very difficult to understand."
Bruce spent over two years at the helm of Newcastle between 2019 and 2021, finishing 13th and 12th in the Premier League table during his two full seasons in charge. However, the 64-year-old was axed in October 2021 as the new Saudi Arabian owners decided to make a change at Newcastle.
He continued: "Listen if you're going to do this job then you're going to be criticised and you've got to be able to take it. I was disappointed with these comments and it was totally, in my opinion, out of order because half of it was a load of bulls***. Sorry.
"And when I see some of the quotes like I put on my boots and put on a whistle because the Saudi Arabians were there, I mean what a load of nonsense. That is ridiculous."