Steve Bruce reportedly rejected Newcastle twice while he was Birmingham manager

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Steve Bruce is expected to be appointed Newcastle’s new manager before the weekend, according to a report by the Daily Telegraph.

They report that Bruce doesn’t feel he can say no to the Magpies now – it’s the club he supported as a boy and both his parents wanted him to take the job.

The club is about to embark on a tour of China and the plan is to have him out in Asia by early next week at the latest so he can get to work with his new charges.

But the report also says that Bruce has turned Newcastle down twice before, when he was in charge of Birmingham City.

Apparently, the second of those offers came behind the back of his great friend Bobby Robson, but it’s unclear why the lure of Newcastle wasn’t strong enough first time around.

Under normal circumstances, having a local who supports the club would endear Bruce to the fans but the crisis at the club is too deep set to view him as anything other a desperate appointment.

This one has moved rapidly but given Bruce’s Sunderland connections as well, he looks like yesterday’s man, and perhaps would have been best served taking the job when it was offered all those years ago.