Steve Bruce won't walk away from Newcastle United even if he's 'annoyed' by the club's lack of transfer activity this summer. 

That's according to Celtic great Frank McAvennie, who was speaking to Football Insider.

The lowdown

Newcastle made only one first-team signing during the summer transfer window and because £26.46million man Joe Willock was on loan at St James' Park for the second half of last season, it could be said that they didn't actually improve their squad.

The Magpies ranked 17th in the Premier League for total expenditure, above only Wolverhampton Wanderers, Watford and Everton (via Transfermarkt).

The club felt compelled to put out a statement addressing any criticisms of their predominant inactivity.

Bruce was asked for his reaction to that statement ahead of his side's visit to Manchester United on Saturday, and he gave a response that the Daily Mail's Craig Hope described as 'prickly'.

Bruce made clear that he 'wanted to bring in a couple of players, but it wasn't possible'.

The latest

McAvennie doesn't think the Newcastle boss will be tempted to tender his resignation despite a lack of backing. In fact, he made Bruce out to be fairly acquiescent.

"Bruce won’t walk, no chance, he hasn’t got it in him," the pundit said.

"What makes you think he would walk away now after all the other stuff?

"Him not getting what he wants at Newcastle isn’t a new thing. He’s there until he gets sacked.

"There are few managers who would walk away on principle and Steve Bruce is not one of them.

"He can be annoyed, that’s fine. But he’s not going to do anything about it. He never does."

The verdict

If there's anything that could make Bruce contemplate an exit, perhaps it could be the hostility to which he is subject from the Newcastle faithful.

With much of the 2020/21 campaign played behind closed doors, he was largely shielded from any angst, but there were chants of 'we want Bruce out' and booes during the draw with Southampton prior to the international break (via The Guardian).

Perhaps he will eventually decide it's an environment that neither he nor his players can thrive in.

In other news, could Newcastle pull off three deals in January?