Six Newcastle managers who were worse than Steve Bruce

Michael Graham
20 October 2021

Newcastle United have finally pulled the trigger on Steve Bruce. But the club has had worse managers in charge.

Well, he lasted longer than everyone expected, but after bringing up his 1,000th game in management, Steve Bruce has finally been given the heave-ho by Newcastle's new owners (the "mutual consent" isn't convincing anyone, Steve).

He leaves the Magpies 19th in the Premier League and without a win this season - few fans on Tyneside, if any, will mourn his departure.

That said, it could be worse, as the following list of former Newcastle managers demonstrate.

Bill McGarry

Steve Bruce did not inspire many people on Tyneside, but those who remember Bill McGarry might have afforded him a little more patience.

McGarry was the coach of Saudi Arabia when the Magpies brought him back to help fight relegation from the top division in 1977.

Not only did he fail to do that, but he was given two more seasons in the second tier and still couldn't lift them above mid-table.

Ossie Ardiles

As the Premier League was gearing up for its first season, Ossie Ardiles was leaving Newcastle to make room for Kevin Keegan.

Ardiles had enjoyed success in the second tier before with Swindon and he looked like a good appointment for Newcastle when they unveiled him in March 1991.

However, less than a year later he was out on his ear having managed just 10 wins in 47 matches. Dismal.

Joe Kinnear

Who's joking here? There were many who were hoping Mike Ashley was when he appointed Joe Kinnear to replace Keegan (second spell) in 2009.

The Newcastle fans never wanted him and he didn't do much to ingratiate himself with the local press either, famously calling one prominent journalist "a c**t".

Kinnear lasted 18 matches, winning only four, before stepping down with health problems. He had also seen Charles N'Zogbia go on strike after mistakenly calling him "insomnia" on TV.

It was just one of a series of high-profile gaffes from Kinnear during his short tenure, with a radio interview introducing Magpies fans to a team made up of Ben Afri, Yohan Kebab, Sissy, Shola Amamobi, Galteirez and Derek Llambezee.

With a team like that, it's no wonder they struggled.

Alan Shearer

We'll be accused of sacrilege by Newcastle fans, but while Alan Shearer was a simply magnificent player, his one foray into management was a complete disaster.

Yes, he inherited a bad situation from Kinnear with only eight games remaining and a relegation battle to fight.

However, Shearer was able to take just five points from the available 24 and Newcastle went down on his watch. Those are just the facts.

John Carver

All things considered, there is a solid case to make for John Carver being the absolute worst of what is a pretty wretched bunch here.

There was no telling him that, of course. While he could barely buy a win for Newcastle, he inexplicably proclaimed himself the "best coach in the Premier League".

You wouldn't have thought it, looking at his record. He won just three of his 20 matches in charge. It was enough to avoid relegation, but it didn't save his job.

Steve McClaren

After Carver was sacked, former England boss Steve McClaren was the man Mike Ashley turned to. He was rated so highly, in fact, that he was even appointed to the club's board too.

Perhaps that explains why the club suddenly found some money to spend. More than £80million was shelled out during the season on the likes of Georginio Wijnaldum, Florian Thauvin, Jonjo Shelvey, Andros Townsend and Aleksandar Mitrovic.

The result was relegation, although McClaren wasn't at the helm when it happened. After just seven wins in 31 matches, he was shown the door in March.