Sources: Newcastle compile new manager shortlist as Bruce sack plan revealed
Newcastle United are compiling a shortlist of manager alternatives to Steve Bruce, Football Insider can exclusively reveal.
The 60-year-old is under huge pressure from the club's supporters and there are now the first signs of disquiet in the boardroom.
A Newcastle source has told Football Insider that club chiefs are starting to take action behind the scenes by considering potential successors to Bruce.
The United hierarchy are not pushing to sack Bruce and he is set to remain in charge when the team resumes after the international break with their home match against Tottenham on Sunday week.
But Newcastle chiefs have decided they will have to act and bring in a new manager if the dreadful start to the season continues and a relegation scrap becomes a certainty.
The north-east giants are 19th in the Premier League and have not won any of their seven fixtures in the competition this season.
Bruce's public stance is he won't walk out on the job he craved for much of his managerial career, which he reiterated again last month.
But a source with knowledge of Bruce's situation has told Football Insider he is feeling "really down" and "lower than ever before" as the pressures of the job mount.
The veteran operator is tired of taking the brunt of the supporters' anger and continued dissatisfaction at the ownership of Mike Ashley.
The striker has missed the last four league matches with a hamstring injury but, as revealed by Football Insider today, is set to make his comeback on 17 October.
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