Next Newcastle Manager: 10 Favourites To Replace Alan Pardew

2. Steve Bruce (3/1)

Status: Hull City boss Geordie born manager who was formerly in charge of rivals Sunderland quickly emerged as the early favourite for the St. James' Park hot seat just hours after Newcastle's miserable 4-0 defeat at Southampton yesterday. He quickly denied reports linking him with a move to Tyneside and called them unfair with Alan Pardew still in charge of the club. Earlier reports on Saturday claimed that a Geordie dream team of Bruce and Alan Shearer as his assistant would be of interest for Mike Ashley. Given both men's past association with Ashley (Shearer was brought in to rescue the club from relegation after Joe Kinnear's disastrous spell but ultimately sunk the Magpies) and Newcastle fans (Bruce is hardly the man top of any fans list given his miserable time at Sunderland), bringing Bruce back home may not be so easy. Let's also not forget that Bruce has much more power at Hull than he would at Newcastle, particularly over player acquisitions, with Bruce bringing in Hatem Ben Arfa on loan on transfer deadline day from Newcastle, where he wasn't wanted. It's unlikely there was a recall clause to bring Ben Arfa back to Newcastle from Hull and after acquiring other talents such as Mohammed Diame and Gaston Ramirez on deadline day, he might figure he is better off where he is, with a forward-thinking chairman who is willing to back his club to the ends of the Earth to bring success to Hull.