NUFC announce Steve Bruce as head coach

Steve Bruce during his time as the Sheffield Wednesday boss Credit: PA

Steve Bruce has been announced as the new head coach at Newcastle United.

The Magpies released a statement on Wednesday confirming his three year contract.

He will be joined at St James' Park by Steve Agnew and Stephen Clemence.

The 58-year-old and his staff are set to fly to China to join the team as they compete in the Premier League Asia Trophy competition.

Steve Bruce himself said:

Bruce returned to management in February, taking over at Sheffield Wednesday, where he has steered the side through seven wins, eight draws and three losses in 18 matches.

But the Newcastle job sees Bruce back in the Premier League for the first time since 2015, when his Hull City side were relegated.

He began his managerial career at Sheffield United in 1998 and his return to the city earlier this year takes his managerial tally to ten clubs, including Crystal Palace, Birmingham City and Aston Villa.

Bruce was born in Corbridge but grew up in Wallsend and has been a life long supporter of Newcastle United. But his Geordie credentials were compromised by a two-year spell at Sunderland between 2009 and 2011.

Steve Bruce during his time at SAFC Credit: PA

In the statement released on the club website, Lee Charnley, managing director at Newcastle, said:

Like Alan Shearer, Peter Beardsley and Michael Carrick, Bruce earned his footballing spurs at the renown Wallsend Boys Club and played for Newcastle schoolboys, but was never picked up by the senior side, partly owing to his height.

Instead, Bruce joined the Swan Hunter shipyard as a trainee plumber, only to be offered a place at Gillingham a week before the job started.

After 200 league appearances, he signed for Norwich in August 1984, winning a League Cup winner’s medal in 1985 and a Second Division Championship medal in 1986.

Bruce went on to Manchester United in 1987, where he enjoyed nine years at the pinnacle of English football, making 414 appearances and scoring 51 goals, an impressive total for a defender.

Despite winning three league titles, a European Cup Winners’ Cup, two FA Cups and one League Cup, Bruce never played for England.

Manchester United captain Steve Bruce lifts the FA Cup at Wembley in 1994 after leading the side to a 4-0 victory over Chelsea Credit: PA

Sheffield Wednesday, the club Bruce resigned from as manager on Monday, issued a statement on Wednesday saying it would be taking legal advice and that there were "outstanding legal issues".

The club said: "The Club is disappointed to learn via public statement issued by Newcastle United that it has appointed former Sheffield Wednesday staff Steve Bruce, Steve Agnew and Steve Clemence.

"Regardless of the fact that the staff resigned from their positions with the Club on Monday, there remains outstanding legal issues to be resolved between the club and the staff and Newcastle United. The Club is currently considering its position and taking the appropriate legal advice."