Hysteria? Hysterical.

Mass hysteria: a condition affecting a group of persons, characterised by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs

Steve Bruce, December 26th 2020

“We had a bad week, and some of the mass hysteria (from Newcastle fans) in my opinion was unjust, unfair, and a lot of it was not right in my opinion.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time Steve Bruce has accused fans of ‘mass hysteria’.

Steve Bruce, September 25th 2017

“Of course here, at a club like ours, it turns into mass hysteria (from Aston Villa fans). A couple of bad results and all of a sudden it’s the end of the world again.

Steve Bruce, August 26th 2011

“It shows you how difficult it is up here. The mass hysteria (from Sunderland fans), I find some of it pathetic, to be honest.”

I think what Bruce has done here is confuse passion with mass hysteria. All three of the aforementioned clubs have incredibly vocal and passionate fanbases.

Of course, that can lead to unrealistic expectations from time-to-time. But… let’s just put Bruce’s comments into perspective shall we?

If we’re talking about the ‘bad week’ let’s start from the Fulham game.

Newcastle couldn’t beat a struggling Fulham side, who played the final 30 minutes with 10 men. Is it mass hysteria to be upset and/or worried about a result like that? No.

Let’s move onto the Brentford game.

Make no mistake about it, this was a monumental opportunity for Newcastle United.

It’s very rare for a team to have such a favourable route to potential cup glory, but this was as easy as it comes.

Newcastle had to navigate Blackburn Rovers, Morecambe and Newport County to make it to the quarter finals. Of course, the only convincing game of the bunch was the Morecambe thrashing, so confidence wasn’t exactly high going up against Brentford.

That said… hope springs eternal… and if Bruce was going to win fans over, making it to a domestic semi final by dispatching lower league opposition would have been the perfect way to do so.

But no. Another pedestrian performance resulted in a 1–0 defeat. Is it mass hysteria to be aggrieved by a lazy performance in one of our biggest games of the season? No.

Then we move onto the Man City game. A game no one is expecting to win.

A 2–0 loss. Not as bad as many expected it to be. It’s all part of the snowball effect, though.

Another game. Another woeful performance. Another bunch of damning stats for Bruce’s side.

Is it mass hysteria to question a manager and a team who haven’t won in four games? No.

So, what Bruce is basically trying to do, and what he tried to do in all three examples, is play the victim.

The criticism aimed at him and the team isn’t ‘unjust’ and it’s not ‘unfair’.

It’s completely justified. It’s completely fair.

The likelihood is that we will go on to lose the next three games against Liverpool, Leicester and Arsenal (FA Cup).

So then what, Steve? Are we meant to just accept complete mediocrity and a slow descent into the bottom three? I know that’s what the likes of Luke Edwards, who described Newcastle United as a ‘futile club’, would like us to think.

But it’s not a futile club really, is it?

Look at Everton. Look at Aston Villa. Look at Leicester.

They play attractive football. They have managers who strive for more than just not drowning and, it seems as though they have an actual plan. They also utilise the assets they have available to them. Something which Bruce is seemingly incapable of doing.

Long story short… there’s no ‘mass hysteria’ here.

There’s only justifiable criticism that can be backed up with a plethora of stats.

It’s time to ‘dust yourself down’, own up and stop playing the victim, Steve.