Steve Bruce hits back at Dwight Gayle after Newcastle United tactics criticism

Ex-Newcastle striker Dwight Gayle says Steve Bruce failed to offer tactical advice and has criticised the former manager's coaching methods; Bruce, 64, now Blackpool boss, has hit back at Gayle and believes he has proven his abilities as a manager

Sunday 23 March 2025 16:01, UK

Steve Bruce has hit back at Dwight Gayle after the ex-Newcastle United striker claimed his former manager "didn't do tactics".

Gayle, who scored 34 goals in 122 appearances for Newcastle, accused Bruce of "chucking a few of the boys under the bus" in a game away to Manchester City and said the manager failed to offer tactical advice when he and team-mate Matt Ritchie asked for guidance.

Gayle, who left the club in 2022 after a six-year spell at St James' Park and is now with Hibernian, also criticised Bruce's training methods and believes the Magpies players struggled to develop under his management.

"He was OK," Gayle told the Open Goal podcast. "I felt that he didn't spend enough time working on a lot of things with us. Perhaps he was trying to go game by game rather than developing us as a team. I think we could've improved a lot of things.

"I remember some of the boys got chucked into the Man City shift. We had a three-game week and the gaffer chucked some of the boys under the bus in terms of who had to play Man City away.

"Me and Matt Ritchie were asking for tactical improvements for weeks, months. We came in at half-time and we were two or three down, and he was like, 'boys, you keep asking for tactics, I don't do tactics; just put your boots on and work hard'."

Bruce, who managed 97 games for Newcastle from 2019 to 2021, has launched a fierce defence in response, while questioning Gayle's performance for the Magpies during their FA Cup quarter-final defeat to City in 2020, where the striker missed a huge opportunity against Pep Guardiola's team.

"Is that the legendary Dwight Gayle, who missed the chance in the quarter-final against Manchester City? Is that the same Dwight Gayle? Interesting," the current Blackpool boss told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"I've been around the block a long, long time. I've only managed 1,050 games but according to Dwight, I don't know what I'm doing.

"I'll let other people make their minds up who are a bit more established than Dwight ever was."