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Don Hutchison discusses candidates to replace Steve Bruce at Newcastle

Will Butcher

Fri 24 April 2020 9:15, UK

that he believes Mauricio Pochettino would be adored on Tyneside if Newcastle United’s potential new owners look to hire the Argentine – and replace Steve Bruce.

ESPN claimed in a previous report that Newcastle’s new-look board room have drawn up a four-man shortlist that could potentially replace Bruce. That includes Pochettino, Max Allegri, Lucien Favre and Rafa Benitez.

Pochettino, 48, is out of work after being sacked and replaced by Jose Mourinho at Tottenham last November – despite makign Spurs an established top-four side and leading them to the Champions League final, where they lost to Liverpool in 2019.

Gateshead-born Hutchison, who played for the likes of West Ham, Liverpool and Everton throughout his career, believes Pochettino would become an icon in the north east if he joined – though he reckons Dortmund boss Favre would “fit well”.

“Lucien Favre would fit well,” “My ideal manager would be Pochettino, I think. Max Allegri is destined for bigger and better things and I don’t think he would take the Newcastle project on. If Pochettino went to Newcastle he would be adored like you wouldn’t believe.”

TBR’s view – Would Pochettino consider Newcastle move?

At Tottenham, Pochettino was stifled in his progress on numerous occasions by chairman Daniel Levy – who kept a tight control of the Spurs coffers. It meant Spurs were always close to silverware, but never got across the line.

At Newcastle, Pochettino would not only have enough resources, he would have some left over in his pursuit of silverware. Indeed, Newcastle are already being linked with some of Europe’s biggest players and that could convince Pochettino.

Whether he would move north to Newcastle, and ignore the lure of the likes of Barcelona or Paris Saint-Germain remains to be seen.