Newcastle fan favourite Allan Saint-Maximin has revealed that everyone at St. James’ Park felt ‘disappointed’ when the owners visited to share the news that Steve Bruce had been sacked.

The Lowdown: Bye bye Bruce

Bruce’s departure was confirmed on Wednesday, after taking charge of his 1,000th game in management last weekend, falling to another defeat against Tottenham.

The 60 year-old certainly can’t argue this wasn’t coming, winning just 28 of 97 games with the Magpies, a measly 29 per cent winning rate.

Of course, that worrying record doesn’t mean the manager didn’t have some positive influence on Tyneside, and perhaps the biggest silver lining of his tenure was the emergence of Saint-Maximin.

The Latest: Saint-Maximin reveals all

The 24 year-old shared a heartfelt thank you message to his gaffer on Twitter this week, before speaking to Sky Sports (via Football Daily) about the mood in the dressing room.

“It was a bad day, so they didn’t come in like ‘we enjoy, Steve Bruce is sacked’, that's not what happened.

“Everyone feels disappointed and even the owner, to be honest, about what’s happened.

“So they just talked about the situation at the moment, they said if we need anything to make everything better, we just have to talk, because at the moment we need to feel comfortable.”

The Verdict: Fonseca time?

There is no question Saint-Maximin has thrived under the tutelage of Bruce, regardless of the manager’s poor record on Tyneside. The dazzling winger had never been able to add consistency to his game in France, but has bagged two goals and three assists in eight top flight appearances this season.

That said, the only way the club can feel ‘comfortable’ again is if they start putting points on the board, something they will look to kick-start at Crystal Palace this weekend when Graeme Jones leads them to Selhurst Park.

The rumour mill is heating up with new manager links too, with Paulo Fonseca seemingly the front runner at the moment.

And, given that the Portuguese tactician was hailed as ‘one of the greatest coaches I’ve had in football’ by Euro 2020 winner Alessandro Florenzi, perhaps he will have the perfect man-management style to continue to bring the best out of Saint-Maximin.

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