[ad_pod ]This article is part of Football FanCast's Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers...Steve Bruce has criticised the “over sensationalised” reaction to his start to life at Newcastle, but history suggests this is only going to end one way.

What's the word?

After a tough start to life on Tyneside, Bruce has faced loads of criticism from both former players and the fans, leading him to question the attitude surrounding his position after such a short spell at the club.

Of course, he is right, a few good results would indeed turn the tide of emotion at St. James’ Park, but that turnaround doesn’t seem too likely to come in this weekend’s trip to Champions League finalists Tottenham, considering how easily the Magpies were dispatched by newly promoted Norwich last weekend.

And while his comment does hold true for the most part, recent history points to the manager going down a very slippery slope indeed.

A path once trodden

In September of 2017, the then-Aston Villa manager called for an end to the “mass hysteria” around his side’s poor run of results, and claimed he was convinced he had the tools at his disposal to not only turn things around, but to challenge at the top.

12 months later, he was sacked after one win in nine games, having never mounted anything close to a serious promotion charge. Funnily enough, the Villans went on to win a remarkable ten games in a row under Dean Smith with the exact same squad, earning promotion through the play-offs.

Clearly then, Bruce was right, he did have the right players at the club to succeed. Unfortunately though, they couldn’t succeed under him.

And just as Villa’s players performed better under Smith than Bruce, the Magpies have so far looked dazed and confused since he replaced Rafael Benitez, under whom they managed to break the top ten and regularly stumped the ‘big six’.

So while Bruce may see his latest comments as fighting talk, they echo an identical sentiment to those he made at Villa, and at the moment he seems destined to follow the footsteps of the path he trod in the Midlands.

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