Steve Bruce has not had it easy during his first few months at Newcastle United, but he admits that nothing compares to having a cabbage hurled at him the day before he got the sack at Aston Villa.
The Magpies boss returns to Villa Park for the first time tonight since he was axed in October 2018. Dean Smith took over and Villa duly won promotion to the Premier League. Bruce, though, feels that he laid the groundwork during a turbulent period for the club and says he has bitter memories of the nature of his departure.
‘It was one of the most unsavoury times of my career,’ said Bruce, who was targeted with the cabbage before a 3-3 draw at home to bottom club Preston. ‘I thought it [the cabbage] was a ball to begin with, it was a big old thing. How the fan got it into the stadium I don’t know.
‘Stephen Clemence [Villa coach] miscontrolled it! My reaction was, “What the f*** is that?”. It didn’t miss me by much. The fans can throw some things, but a cabbage? I went the next day, though, so I didn’t have time to get angry about it.’
He added: ‘I got criticised [by fans], yes, but for that 18 months only Man City scored more goals than us — and it was always brought up about my style of play. They are a very difficult lot. Great club, great support with great history, but it was in a mess. It was arguably my most difficult job, even more difficult than this.’
Villa boss Smith believes Bruce deserves respect from the fans tonight. ‘I thought it was a disgrace,’ said Smith of the cabbage incident. ‘You don’t want to see that in the ground. I have an awful lot of respect for what he has done in management but, more importantly, for how he is as a man as well.’
Bruce’s side were beaten in the play-off final earlier that year but the former boss says the club nearly went out of business in the months that followed before new owners arrived. ‘It was the worst six weeks after the play-off game, it unravelled,’ he said. ‘We couldn’t bring anyone in — financially we didn’t realise the enormity of it until the chief executive got the sack and then Steve Round [director of football] got the sack.
‘We didn’t know if we were going to get paid in the May and June. In that summer we had to sell. Jack Grealish nearly went to Spurs. James Chester nearly went to Stoke but then the new owners came in and everything changed. If they hadn’t come in I feared for a great club. We were practically bust.’
Smith believes Bruce is doing a sound job at Newcastle too. ‘Steve has done what he does best — got them organised. They’ve got pace and power up front. They are winning, they beat Manchester United. They are in good form.’
Smith’s Villa had issues coping with Wolves’ counter-attacking in their last match, a 2-1 defeat that has left the club just above the relegation zone. Despite injury woes Smith is hoping there will be no repeat and has captain Grealish fit again after a four-week lay-off with a calf injury. Goalkeeper Tom Heaton should also return after shaking off his own calf problem.