Steve Bruce reveals he 'offered' to get sacked by Newcastle and backed Steven Gerrard to replace him

Steve Bruce has revealed that he asked Newcastle's owners to get rid of him before parting way with the club.

Bruce, 62, endured two difficult years in charge at St James' Park where he recorded a win percentage of just 27.4% from 84 league games.

Newcastle were 19th in the Premier League table when Bruce left the club by mutual consent in November 2021.

The former Manchester United centre-back was dismissed less than two weeks after the Saudi consortium had taken over the club from Mike Ashley.

However, he has now confirmed he instigated his own departure in a refreshingly honest interview, which you can watch below.

Speaking on the Business of Sport podcast, Bruce lifted the lid on a conversation he had with Newcastle's co-owner Amanda Stavely and husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi.

"I had to say to them: 'look, you might have to take me out of the equation'," said Bruce.

"It's the hardest thing I ever had to say. But I realise it was the best for the club because everything was euphoric around it, the only negative was me.

"They even asked me, and I can say this on record, who I would recommend. I did recommend Eddie [Howe] and I hope Steven doesn't mind, but I recommended Steven Gerrard, too. But somebody like Eddie or Steven, young, take it on.

"It was really, really difficult. And I've never done that before - it's sort of giving up - but I realised it was best for the club."

He continued: "I thought I had to because we got beat by Tottenham after we scored early - we scored after 20 seconds or something. We got beat 3-2 off Spurs.

"It was the word 'give up' - that's the wrong word for me. I never wanted to give it up, but I realised that I had to and it was more beneficial to the club, that they needed to make a clean sweep and take the negativity out of the equation which was me."

Bruce went on to manage Championship side West Bromwich Albion shortly after leaving Newcastle, but only lasted eight months before he was sacked.