Newcastle fans feared the worst when Steve Bruce replaced Rafael Benitez last summer.
Let’s be honest, it wasn’t exactly the most inspiring appointment and nobody expected much success to follow.
The general consensus was that Benitez, who remains a hero on Tyneside, overachieved with a squad desperately low on quality.
Fans hold owner Mike Ashley responsible for the club’s shortcomings, and their fury with the Sports Direct tycoon intensified upon Bruce’s arrival.
But has it all been that bad under their new manager?
Ahead of their game against Manchester City on the weekend – which you can hear LIVE on talkSPORT – we’ve taken a look at how Bruce and Benitez compare.
How do they line up?
Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez saved the club from relegation last season thanks to the 33 goals they scored, a staggering 79 per cent of Newcastle’s Premier League goal tally.
Rondon, who followed Benitez to Chinese Super League club Dalian Yifang following the end of his loan from West Brom, claimed he wanted to stay and criticised Ashley’s transfer policy.
Meanwhile, Perez joined Leicester for a meagre £30million, which Ashley admitted was due to a regrettably low release clause in his Newcastle contract.
However, Ashley did dip into his pockets to replace the forward pair.
Newcastle signed Allan Saint-Maximin for £16m and broke their transfer record to land Joelinton for £40m.
But besides those two and the addition of Jetro Willems, Bruce uses a pretty similar team to Benitez, and it would be difficult to argue one is stronger than the other.
The tactics are identical, too, with the Magpies continuing in the ultra-defensive 5-4-1 system that kept them afloat under the Spaniard.
How do they play?
Benitez’s Newcastle were pretty awful to watch at times, and if anything they’ve got worse.
The Spaniard was happy to let the opposition have the ball and try to grab something from a set-piece, or even settle for a goalless draw in the tough games.
On average, Newcastle had 41 per cent of possession in the Premier League under Benitez, and his side had 11.7 shots on goal per game.
This season, they’ve seen even less of the ball with an average of just 33.3 per cent possession and 10.6 shots on goal per game.
So somehow, Newcastle have grown even more negative in attack.
How do their results compare?
It’s a little early to make too many conclusions regarding results, but the Magpies are still winning a similar number of games under Bruce.
The current Toon boss has won 30.8 per cent of his opening 13 games in charge, compared to the 31.4 per cent win percentage that Benitez left with.
However, Bruce’s record is made more impressive given that two of his four victories in the top-flight this season were against ‘Big Six’ opposition.
The Magpies beat Tottenham 1-0 in their own back yard before beating Manchester United by the same scoreline at St James’ Park.
Conclusion: More of the same?
There have been some pretty dire moments for Newcastle this season, including a 5-0 thrashing at Leicester and the recent 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa, and things certainly haven’t got better under Bruce.
Newcastle aren’t suddenly playing better or winning more games this season, not that anyone expected them to.
But it’s probably not as bad as most people expected. Despite losing two key players, Bruce has kept Newcastle in a similar position to where they were last season, even if it’s still pretty terrible to watch.
And perhaps, if Magpies fans were so betrothed to Benitez for the job he did, they can give Bruce a little more credit for doing a similar one this season.
Saturday is GameDay on talkSPORT. We’ll bring you THREE live Premier League commentaries across our network this Saturday, including Newcastle vs Man City (12:30)