Steve Bruce has insisted he is nobody’s puppet as he prepares to sit down with Newcastle owner Mike Ashley and discover if he is prepared to sanction another £20million transfer swoop, as Newcastle United have fallen behind in the rich list.
Bruce said: “I certainly don’t want to be labelled that puppet thing again. I was aware of people’s thoughts, but that will never be the case – I will never be anybody’s that.
“To take the club forward is all that I want to try to do. We want a bit of quality to take this club forward. If that takes a bit of time, it will have to take a bit of time.
“I want what’s best for the club. If we can get somebody better, then I will try to ask that question.”
Rich List
Newcastle United are no longer one of the 30 richest football clubs in the world. The Toon had revenues of £178.5m in 2017/18 which made them the 19th richest football club in the world.
Their revenue this time round didn’t make the cut with 20th spot now being taken by Napoli who earned £182.8m last season. West Ham, who had been below Newcastle last season, are still in the top 20 with their revenue of £190.7m putting them in 18th place. Barcelona top the league table with revenues of £741.1m.
1 // Barcelona // £741,100,000
2 // Real Madrid // £667,500,000
3 // Manchester United // £627,100,000
4 // Bayern Munich // £581,800,000
5 // PSG // £560,500,000
6 // Manchester City // £538,200,000
7 // Liverpool // £533,000,000
8 // Tottenham Hotspur // £459,300,000
9 // Chelsea // £452,200,000
10 // Juventus // £405,200,000
11 // Arsenal // £392,700,000
12 // Borussia Dortmund // £332,400,000
13 // Atletico Madrid // £324,000,000
14 // Inter // £321,300,000
15 // Schalke // £286,300,000
16 // Roma // £203,600,000
17 // Lyon // £194,600,000
18 // West Ham United // £190,700,000
19 // Everton // £187,700,000
20 // Napoli // £182,800,000
Almiron
Miguel Almiron has now started to add goals to his energetic displays with three in his last six games, and that is exactly the kind of quality Bruce would hope to attract this month rather than simply bringing in bodies.
He said: “He’s a class act, a manager’s dream. He trains every day, comes in, smiles…he’s a very, very good player. He’s been terrific these past 12 months.
“OK, he could have scored more goals, but that’s the type of signing we need. If there’s another similar kid out there, let’s see if we can get them.”
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