Mark Lawrenson changes his tune on NUFC fans....then makes bizarre Steve Bruce claim

Here's a reminder of what Mark Lawrenson said back in November, stating that Newcastle fans are "never happy" and "want to win the Champions League" when asked if simply avoiding relegation would be deemed a good enough season for Steve Bruce.

Two months later he's changed his tune considerably after no wins in our last eight games, suggesting he's finally come to his senses regarding the awful brand of football we've been served up on a weekly basis under Steve Bruce.

This comes via his latest prediction piece for the BBC ahead of Monday's trip to Arsenal. He's backing The Gunners to win 2-0, saying we are a "negative team at the best of times" but have become even worse of late and that he now appreciates why us fans are so frustrated after watching how "awful" we were at Sheffield United on Tuesday night.

His assessment of all things NUFC then takes a slightly odd turn just as he looked to be seeing the light, with him bizarrely claiming that Steve Bruce deserves sympathy. Why? Because his remit is to keep us in the Premier League and he's doing that.

So, he's now doing a better job than people think on the basis that Mike Ashley's expectations of Newcastle United are so low? That's not really how it should work when we signed well last summer and had players and staff suggesting a top 10 finish could even be possible before results began to match our dreadful displays.

Here's what Lawro's had to say in full:

"These two teams met in the FA Cup last week, when Arsenal needed extra time to get through. I don't expect the Gunners to make such hard work of a win second time around.

Newcastle are on a bad run of eight games without a win, and they are not playing well either. The Magpies are quite a negative team at the best of times, but they have not been creating very much recently.

They were awful in the first half of Tuesday's defeat by Sheffield United, and it feels like if you score first against them, they don't really know what to do.

They have not offered much going forward, so I totally understand why their fans are frustrated, but I do have some sympathy for Newcastle boss Steve Bruce.

When Bruce got the job in July 2019, his remit was to keep Newcastle in the Premier League. That hasn't changed, so you have to look at how he is doing from that perspective."

Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle

One minute we want UCL football and are never happy. The next minute we have every reason to be unhappy because he now realises how bad it is to watch us play under Steve Bruce....but he's still doing a good job!

Follow us on Twitter (@NUFCBlogcouk) and on Facebook HERE