Former Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor is backing Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard to take over from Steve Bruce at the Premier League club, speaking to talkSPORT (18 October, 9am).
Talk about a false dawn.
Steve Bruce must have felt as though he was walking on air when Callum Wilson flashed home a brilliant header only two minutes into yesterday’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur, his PIF overlords watching on from above, limbs aloft in celebration.
Bruce’s reverie didn’t last long, however.
15 minutes later, Tanguy Ndombele had been given the freedom of St James’ Park to level the scores. By the time the two sides headed down the tunnel at half-time, a 1-0 lead had turned into a 3-1 deficit.
So if Bruce is hanging on by his fingernails – the common consensus is Newcastle would have a new manager already had Antonio Conte, Graham Potter or Brendan Rodgers showed an interest – a defeat that exposed all his team’s weaknesses won’t have done his prospects of reaching game number 1,001 much good.
Gerrard and Lampard in frame to replace Steve Bruce at Newcastle United
“At this time, I think you look at the likes of Lampard and Gerrard. Someone like that would get the fans whetting their lips a bit and get the excitement back,” says Taylor.
“You can see the frustration. (The fans) want a change, the excitement, that bit of hope! We need to get everyone excited again.
“That was a big thing going to the games when I was a kid. The big signings getting mentioned. For a lot of years the fans haven’t had that.”
Of the two, Lampard feels a more realistic ambition than Gerrard.
The former is looking for work, after all, while Gerrard has shown little desire to walk away from a Rangers side looking to secure the Scottish Premiership title for a second successive season.
But Taylor believes the problems at Newcastle go beyond failings on the pitch or in the dugout.
“(Replicating Manchester City) has got to be our platform. The training ground, from my time there, is an old barn conversion! It needs sorting out,” says the former academy graduate, who made 268 first-team appearances for the Magpies.
“Looking at the academy as well, going back all those years there hasn’t been investment. It’s a big project.”
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