previous Newcastle United, Sunderland, and Aston Villa player favoured to return to previous club.
Steve Bruce may return to the club he left nearly 40 years ago.
Former Newcastle United and Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is the betting favourite to return to management with one of his former clubs. Bruce has been out of sport since October of last year, when he was fired as West Brom manager following only one win in his team’s first 13 Championship games.
The former Manchester United captain, who has managed over 1000 club games, was also Newcastle manager during Mike Ashley’s final two seasons as Magpies owner. Bruce led the Magpies to 13th and 12th place finishes in the league during that time, but was fired by the new owners PIF in October 2021 following a poor start to the season in which Newcastle failed to win any of their first eight matches in the 2021/22 season.
After leaving Newcastle, Bruce stated that he intended to retire from management in the near future, before taking over as West Brom manager. In a recent interview on Simon Jordan’s Up Front podcast, the three-time Premier League winner retracted this stance and stated that he is determined to return to management in the future.
This has fueled talk of a return to Gillingham, where Bruce began his playing career in 1979. Bruce was a key member of Gillingham’s team for five seasons, and his defensive performance drew the attention of top-tier Norwich City, who signed him in 1984.
Bruce left the Priestfield Stadium about 40 years ago, but he has rapidly emerged as the bookmakers’ favourite to take over the Kent-based club. Gillingham are now in the promotion positions in League Two after a solid start to the season, but the club’s hierarchy surprised everyone by sacking manager Neil Harris after four defeats in seven games.
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