Newcastle United’s new owners have sacked head coach Steve Bruce.
Bruce was expected to be replaced after the Saudi Arabian-backed consortium, led by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), completed a £305m takeover of Newcastle on October 7.
The 60-year-old remained in charge for the 3-2 defeat to Tottenham – his 1,000th match as a manager – with non-executive chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and director Amanda Staveley watching on at St James’ Park.
The defeat left Newcastle second bottom of the Premier League and winless after their opening eight games of the campaign.
Newcastle said the process of recruiting a new head coach is underway, and it is reported former Roma boss Paulo Fonseca has emerged as a contender.
The club are expected to hold talks with Fonseca this week.
Eddie Howe, who left his Bournemouth manager role in August 2020, and former Borussia Dortmund boss Lucien Favre are thought to be among the other candidates for the job.
Graeme Jones will lead the team on an interim basis, starting with Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace.
Bruce guided the club to 13th and 12th-place finishes in his two years in charge but faced persistent hostility from fans, who criticised his style of play.
Speaking to The Telegraph after his departure, Bruce said: “I think this might be my last job.
“It’s not just about me; it’s taken its toll on my whole family because they are all Geordies and I can’t ignore that.
“They have been worried about me… especially my wife Jan. What an amazing woman she is, incredible, she’s just a fantastic woman, wife and mother and grandmother. She dealt with the death of my parents, hers have not been very well. And then she had me to worry about and what I’ve been going through the last couple of years.
“I can’t take her for granted, she has spent her whole life following me around from football club to football club and if I was to say to her tomorrow, I’ve been offered a job in China, or anywhere, she would say, ‘Steve, is this right for you, do you want to do it?’ And she’d back me again.
“I’m 60 years old and I don’t know if I want to put her through it again. We’ve got a good life so, yeah, this will probably be me done as a manager – until I get a phone call from a chairman somewhere asking if I can give them a hand. Never say never, I’ve learnt that.”
Revealing the abuse he has faced, Bruce added: “It has been very, very tough. To never really be wanted, to feel that people wanted me to fail and saying I would fail, that I was useless, a fat waste of space, a tactically inept cabbage head.”