Jonjo Shelvey has called on Newcastle fans to give new manager Steve Bruce a chance. The appointment of Bruce in succession to the popular Rafael Benitez has not been greeted with universal approval on Tyneside. Many supporters feel the choice is uninspiring and are also not impressed by the 58-year-old’s past Sunderland connections. Steve Bruce has replaced the popular Rafael Benitez at Newcastle (Andy Hampson/PA) He has also arrived at a time of considerable unrest after the departure of Benitez, the failure to keep key players Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon and continuing uncertainty over a potential takeover. But midfielder Shelvey was immediately impressed by Bruce when he joined the squad at the Premier League Asia Trophy this week and felt his influence showed in Saturday’s 1-0 win over West Ham in Shanghai. The 27-year-old said: “It feels like a club that is moving on a bit, I think we’ve got to do that. Rafa isn’t here anymore, we need to get on with it. 🇨🇳 The lads have trained for the final time in Shanghai this morning, following yesterday’s #PLAsiaTrophy win over West Ham. #NUFC pic.twitter.com/Pt9TRK5sJy — Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) July 21, 2019 “Steve has come in and it’s been like a breath of fresh air. The fans need to give him a chance because I think, if they do that, if we play like we did on Saturday, we will do well week-in, week-out and they won’t have any reason for complaint. “I think Steve is more straight with you. As soon as he came in, all he expects is that you work hard. If you work hard you will be fine. That’s what we need to do.” Shelvey insists there is plenty of character in the team and believes they can prove the doubters wrong. He said: “We’ve constantly been told we are not good enough. People have kept telling us we were going to go down, but we’ve proven them wrong and we stayed up both times. “The main motivation is to stay up, that’s the first target. We need to stay in the Premier League. We don’t want to drop down into the Championship, it’s getting harder and harder to get out of it. “We don’t want to keep going down and coming back up again. We are too good for that. We need stability and we need to stay in the Premier League for a long time.” Jonjo Shelvey is looking forward to working under Steve Brruce (Jonathan Brady/PA) Shelvey actually had a chance meeting with Bruce while on holiday over the summer and is now looking forward to working with the former Manchester United defender. He said: “I saw him in the summer in Portugal and we said hello. Obviously I didn’t know he was going to end up being my manager, so it’s a good thing I did stop and say hello. “He deserves a bit more credit than he gets. Even within two days, look at the difference from the other day. You won’t find many people who don’t speak highly of Steve.” Topics Jonjo Shelvey, Rafael Benítez, Steve Bruce, Premier League I adore McClaren – Shelvey Benitez will check on Shelvey before Swansea reunion Shelvey relieved to repay Newcastle debt Leicester City 1 Newcastle United 2: Shelvey and Perez fire visitors into top half Aston Villa pushing hard to sign Manchester City youngster Blades break transfer record again to capture Mousset from Bournemouth Manchester City in pole position to land Argentinian teenager – but he’ll join this club on loan first Tottenham look set to finally offload Vincent Janssen – and his destination is surprising Rice encouraged by Hamilton youngsters Arsenal set to complete €40 million transfer of Copa America hero Everton PES 2020 news and hands-on impressions: finesse dribbling, new Matchday mode and revamped Master League make for improved experience Mohamed Salah set to become England’s best-paid footballer with new Liverpool deal Bayer Leverkusen youngster says he’s ready for next step amid Liverpool interest Tottenham and Atletico Madrid hold crunch talks over Christian Eriksen future
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