Steve Bruce speaks on Newcastle fan frustration

After his appointment at the beginning of the 2019-20 season, Bruce guided the Magpies to 13th and 12th-placed finishes in the last two terms, but they currently sit on just one point from their opening four games of the new campaign.

The season began with a 4-2 defeat at the hands of West Ham and a 2-0 loss to Bruce's former club Aston Villa, leading to growing frustration at St. James' Park, before they played out a 2-2 draw with Southampton after the international break and suffered a 4-1 thrashing against Manchester United last time out.

Speaking to reporters ahead on Friday's clash with Leeds, Bruce said: "Look, it's always difficult. I would be sick if I said I quite enjoyed it. It's difficult. The frustration is, like any other Premier League club or any other Football League club, if you don't get results then ultimately the manager, head coach, whatever I am, bears the brunt. That's what it is."

Taking responsibility for the Magpies' failure to collect a victory so far, the 60-year-old continued, saying: "I have to accept that results haven't been good enough. What the disappointment was we played very well at a difficult place last week - as difficult as it was going to get. We played very well and didn't get anything out of the game, which was the frustration."

They play host to a Leeds United side who are also yet to pick up a Premier League victory on Friday, and Bruce's men would leapfrog their 17th-placed opponents with a victory.