Steve Bruce will be ‘relieved’ to get the sack at Newcastle, Jamie Redknapp claims

Newcastle’s fans called on the club’s new owners to sack Bruce during the 3-2 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday

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Steve Bruce will be “relieved” when he is sacked as Newcastle manager, according to Jamie Redknapp.

Despite the club’s takeover by a Saudi Arabia-backed consortium last week, Bruce remained in charge of the team for his 1,000th match as a manager on Sunday but Newcastle’s winless start to the Premier League season continued as they were beaten 3-2 by Tottenham.

The former Aston Villa, Hull and Sunderland boss was subjected to chants from home fans at St James’ Park calling for him to be sacked but he has insisted that he won’t step down despite the mounting criticism of the club’s position in the table.

Newcastle’s new owners are expected to replace Bruce, who has guided the club to 13th and 12th in the Premier League in his two seasons in charge, and Redknapp says the 60-year-old will welcome the decision.

“My feeling when I look at him is that he’d almost like to be put out of his misery as well,” Redknapp told Sky Sports. “He looks like a man who has done as much as he can, and he is a symbol of the previous regime.

“He’ll be hating every second of it, nobody enjoys that unless you have something wrong with you. He doesn’t want to be here. I think he’ll be relieved when he gets that phone call.”

Newcastle sit 19th in the Premier League table with three points from their opening eight games and have 11 fixtures to play until the January transfer window opens.

“They need to get the right characters in during January in the spine of the team,” Redknapp added. This squad right now is one of the favourites for relegation, you can see it in the mistakes they make every single week. A new manager might change it but it’s hard.”