‘You don’t want to be doing that’: Jamie Carragher shares theory on Newcastle post-takeover

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With Newcastle United on the verge of getting new owners, Jamie Carragher has told Sky Sports that he feels Steve Bruce’s departure is “inevitable”.

Newcastle are in the final stages of a takeover bid, with the club now very close to being bought off Mike Ashley, as was reported by talkSPORT last Wednesday.

PCP Capital Partners, headed by Amanda Staveley, have brokered the £300million deal which is being backed by the Saudi Arabian royal family’s Public Investment Fund.

Ashley and PCP have entered into a binding agreement, with terms agreed and a deposit paid, and documentation has been sent to the Premier League.

Newcastle’s prospective new owners are expected to have major ambitions upon arriving at St. James’ Park, and it could mean an uncertain future for Bruce.

While Carragher’s personal preference is to see Bruce given a chance, he acknowledges that new owners will probably mean new people brought in, including in the dugout.

The Liverpool legend also feels that giving Bruce – or any other manager – a huge transfer kitty when they don’t feel he’s the man to take the club forward is not something the new owners want to be doing.

“I don’t think it is unfair on Steve Bruce to say if a manager who has a better CV, or has won the Champions League if that is how high Newcastle are thinking, will eventually come into that job,” Carragher told Sky Sports, as transcribed by Chronicle Live.

“Rather than give the man who is not your man and who is probably not universally loved by the Newcastle fans, rightly or wrongly. If you give him £200-300million in that first summer when you are not committed to him being the man further forward, is he then going to use that money to buy players who you or the next manager think are going to take the club forward?

“You don’t want to be doing that as a new ownership. You don’t want to see managers go but I think any manager, and even Newcastle supporter, know that if a new owner is coming in he may want to bring his own man in.”

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Newcastle fans have had to put up with many prior stories of protracted takeover talks over the years but the latest reports suggest that one is now closer than ever.

The Saudi group is reported to have assets of more than $320billion, so there is certainly plenty to get excited about.

While Bruce wasn’t exactly many fans’ preferred option to replace Rafael Benitez – to put it mildly – he hasn’t done too badly with the resources at his disposal.

As Carragher suggested, however, new owners could want to do things differently and bring in their own staff, with a new manager potentially heralding the start of a new era – out with the old and in with the new.