Steve Bruce responds to criticism from former Newcastle United striker

Steve Bruce has hit back at recent comments made by former Newcastle United striker Dwight Gayle.

While appearing on the Open Goal Podcast, the 35-year-old criticised the now-Blackpool boss’ approach to training and matches.

When asked what it was like to work with the ex-Manchester United captain, Gayle said: “He was okay, I felt that he didn’t spend enough time working on a lot of things with us. Perhaps he was trying to go game-by-game rather than developing us as a team. I think we could’ve improved a lot of things.

“I remember some of the boys got chucked into the Man City shift. We had a free game week, and the gaffer chucked some of the boys under the boss in terms of who had to play Man City away.

“Me and Matt Ritchie were asking for tactical improvements for weeks and months. We came in at half time and we were two or three down, and he was like ‘boys, you keep asking for tactics, I don’t do tactics, just put your boots on and work hard.’

“We were like, it’s Man City, it’s not good enough to just run around. That’s one I’m in shock by.”