02 October 2020

Newcastle manager Steve Bruce draws unlikely parallel with Klopp insisting ‘we all need time’

Newcastle manager Steve Bruce has called on the club to be patient with him in the same way Liverpool were with their head coach Jurgen Klopp.

Klopp has achieved tremendous success since joining Liverpool in 2015 (PA)

Bruce joined the North East side in July 2019 and guided them to a 13th place finish last season.

Their start to the 2020-21 league campaign has seen mixed results with one win, one draw and one defeat.

And while consistency continues to evade Bruce’s team, he has urged fans to remain positive about a future with him in charge.

"We all need time. It took a great manager like Jurgen a few years to get what he needed," he told Sky Sports.

"Every manager needs time, of course, because nowadays, you can't just change it overnight. With transfer windows and especially now with what's gone on in the world, it's very, very difficult.

"Look, it's still a work in progress - I know that sounds easy for me to say, but that's what it is - and we are in the middle of change because I'm trying to change us from a team that plays with a back five and sitting deep into a more-forward thinking back four and playing from there."

Klopp arrived at Anfield in October 2015 but had to wait nearly four years for his first trophy when he lifted the Champions League in 2019.

Since then, he has collected the club’s first Premier League title in 30 years as well as the FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup.

Meanwhile, the closest Bruce has come to a major trophy in English football came with Hull City in 2014 when they were beaten by Arsenal in the final of the FA Cup.

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