“I’m a fan and always will be. Whatever’s best for the club is best for me but if there’s going to be a takeover and I can help Newcastle in any way I’d love to stay in charge. It’s a difficult, difficult job. But I hope I can take this great club forward."

Steve Bruce

Newcastle Head Coach Steve Bruce was upbeat as he spoke ahead of the resumption of the first season in his dream job as Newcastle boss, one that started off as a nightmare but nearly 10 months later with a chance of winning the FA Cup for his home town club still alive could yet turn out to be the stuff of his wildest fantasies & those of Newcastle fans if Saudi Arabia's takeover is confirmed & the sleeping giant that is Newcastle United Football Club can truly awaken.

The Premier League is back with a bang after the first seven games of Project Restart following top flight football's 100 days of absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Seventeen goals have been scored so far including absolutely stunning strikes amid all the thrills and spills, controversy and incident expected in the best league in the world which is great to see after so many believed when in was halted in March that the season would never be finished.

There are differences due to Corona Virus protocol and paying respects most noticeably the absence of football fans in the stadiums but there are positive changes as well from a dignified minute's silence to the fallen & NHS heroes to players & officials 'Taking The Knee' before each game in solidarity with the global Black Lives Matters movement whose slogan adorns the backs of the player's shirts.

Yet the show, life and football must go on and its been a terrific return so far full of talking points from the first game to the last including the inexplicable failure of Hawkeye to rule Oliver Norwood's free-kick a goal after Villa goalkeeper Orjan Nyland carried it clearly over the line and into his net in the very first game of 'Project Restart' between Sheffield United and Aston Villa on Wednesday night.

Referee Michael Oliver's wrist-mounted Goal Line Technology monitor didn't buzz Goal! so even if he suspected it had crossed the line, he'd have been duty bound to rely on the technology but why Paul Tierney & VAR couldn't intervene is anyone's guess.

Blades' boss Chris Wilder was understandably furious as in his mind, this was the latest incident in which the improper use of VAR and technology has robbed his side of Premier League goals and points following a denied earlier equaliser at Spurs that may have denied them a victory had it been rightly allowed.

Wilder was even angry about JonJo Shelvey's goal at Bramall Lane in December that clinched a 2-0 win and the three points for The Magpies after Andy Carroll's header sprung the offside trap and Shelvey went on to put the ball into Dean Henderson's net ignoring a false flag waved by a linesman that VAR went on to prove was raised in error.

As Steve Bruce rightly pointed out at the time, that was the game's second goal anyway after an Andy Carroll-led Newcastle - the Geordie making a rare start in favour of the rested Joelinton - beat Sheffield United at their own game of hard work and defensive resilience with Allan Saint-Maximin's moment of magic heading home the winner.

Tomorrow will be a different challenge for Bruce and Newcastle playing behind-closed-doors in an empty St. James' Park for the first time while its Sheffield United's second game after they caught up their postponed fixture with Aston Villa on Wednesday.

Yet Bruce's men can pick up the good form in which they ended the start of the season in week 29 with a win against Southampton especially with saviour Martin Dubravka back between the sticks and defensive lynchpin Ciaran Clark, both of whom would have missed the tie back in March if it had been played when it was scheduled to go ahead.

Bruce has almost a full complement of players to pick from except Dwight Gayle and the Longstaff brothers and it will be interesting to see whether he goes with one or springs a tactical surprise with two up front in Andy Carroll and Joelinton, who has been free-scoring in recent friendlies including this magnificent strike against Middlesbrough, both available for selection and a squad in black & white raring to go. The football is back - Howay the Lads!