While Newcastle United and Aston Villa may not be the most obvious rivals in the world given the distance between St. James’ and Villa Park, there is an element of real needle when the two meet.
Indeed, two of English football’s historic powerhouses, the Magpies were relegated in the Midlands back in 2009 while under the stewardship of Alan Shearer in front of a home crowd who’d made banners to revel in the visitors’ absolute misery.
So, any meeting between the two is big enough but tonight’s trip to the scene of 2009’s crime gets even more dramatic when you consider what’s in store for Steve Bruce. It’s fair to say Rafa Benitez’s replacement on Tyneside wasn’t an overly popular choice upon his arrival over the course of the summer and that kind of ill-will towards him was also evident during his time in charge of those clad in claret and blue.
An ex-Birmingham boss obviously, Bruce infamously had a cabbage thrown at him during a difficult spell for the team in the Championship last year prior to his sacking and the 58-year-old described it as one of the most unsavoury moments of his career.
Still, despite that ugly event last year, some Villa fans online have actually been hoping Bruce gets a good reception tonight.
https://twitter.com/stix2895/status/1198954357821186048
https://twitter.com/laytonprobert/status/1198880224932446213
Hope Villa fans don’t boo Bruce tonight at ##AVLNEW. While things didn’t work out in the end, he was nice guy who did plenty of good things at #AVFC….
— Michael Plant (@MichaelPlant82) November 25, 2019
https://twitter.com/danstannage/status/1198898909575307265
I hope Bruce gets a good reception tonight – no need for silliness or nastiness. #avfc #nufc
— James Donaghy @thecoldgun.bsky.social (@thecoldgun) November 25, 2019
I really hope Steve Bruce gets the reception at VP tonight that he deserves. Not our best manager but a manager that kept us going, tried his best and it unfortunately didn’t work out for him. Whatever you think of him he still took us to a play off final #AVFC
— Steve Grimshaw (@GrimmySteveAV) November 25, 2019
What sort of reception should he get? Join the discussion by commenting below…
