Steve Bruce has passionately responded to Dwight Gayle after he claimed he ‘didn’t do tactics’ when in charge of Newcastle.
The striker joined the Magpies in 2016 and played under Bruce during his near one-and-a-half year managerial stint at St James’ Park.
Gayle recently appeared on the Open Goal podcast and delivered a damning admission of his experience with the ex-Manchester United captain.
“He was okay. I felt that he didn’t perhaps spend enough time on working on a lot of things with us,” Gayle said on Bruce.
“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.”
“I remember some of the boys got chucked into the Manchester City shift,” Gayle added. “We had like a three-game week.
“I think the gaffer sort of chucked a few of the boys under the bus in terms of who had to play against Man City away. Me and Matt Ritchie were asking for tactical improvements for weeks or months.
“We came in at half time, I think we were like two or 3-0, or something down, and he’s like, ‘Boys, you keep asking for tactics, I don’t do tactics. Just put your boots on and work hard.’”
Gayle also claimed that Bruce could’ve done more himself in training sessions before the Saudi takeover of Newcastle was completed in 2021.
“He didn’t really do much on the training pitch,” Gayle added. But then, obviously, when the Saudi owners came in, he stuck his boots on and the whistle and was like, ‘If I’m going, then I’m going to run you into the ground’, or something like that.
“So, we’re doing some running drills and he’s just running us and he’s blowing his whistle and it’s just, like, making it into a little bit of a joke and stuff. He’s like, ‘They’re over there watching you’.
“[Training] 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 develop us as a team. I just felt like we could have improved with a lot of things.”
Bruce, who manages League One side Blackpool, was asked about the comments from Gayle and issued a strong response to him.
“Is that the legendary Dwight Gayle, who missed a chance in the quarter-final against Manchester City?” he told BBC Radio Lancashire.
“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. So I’ll let other people make their mind up. I’m a bit more established than what Dwight ever was.”
After previously managing clubs including Hull City and Aston Villa, Bruce joined Newcastle at the beginning of the 2019/20 season.
He was in charge for 97 matches across all competitions but won just 27 of those before leaving in October 2021.
Bruce then joined West Brom before a surprise switch to Blackpool, who he has sitting tenth in the League One table.
Gayle made 45 appearances for Bruce at Newcastle, scoring five goals and assisting another three.
He left a year after his former boss for Stoke City, before joining Derby County and then Hibernian.
The 35-year-old has featured 21 times for the Scottish Premiership side this season and netted four goals.
