Barmy Bruce Blasts Benitez

Steve Bruce has launched a bizarre attack on Rafa Benitez and Liverpool claiming that they have been “disrespectful” in making an alleged unfair approach for one of his players. The Sunderland boss became emotionally unbalanced by tabloid rumours of an attempt by Liverpool to sign Kenwyne Jones on loan for the rest of the season. He told Sky Sports News:

 ‘I know my chairman feels the same, it is quite disrespectful what is happening, not only unsettling the player publicly, but they are probably doing it privately.

‘Certainly Rafa Benitez hasn’t spoken to me, as far as I am aware nobody has talked to my chief executive, or the chairman – nobody from Liverpool, and to try and say we are going to let our centre-forward go to Liverpool on loan, is just embarrassing really.

‘To unsettle him like they are is totally outrageous, it is like us trying to get Steven Gerrard on loan.

‘What the hell are they thinking of that they can do a loan? All it does is that it upsets Kenwyne, and we might very well have a disillusioned player on our hands, that’s where we are.

“I have said openly no matter who you are, there is always a price, however to try and get Kenwyne Jones on loan – and this all through agents, words baffle me to be honest.

‘His head might be turned privately for all I know – and I did have a conversation with him last week over a couple of other clubs, but this notion, for us to let him go to Liverpool on loan…do me a favour.

‘I am very confident, that certainly on a loan, it is not even an issue – I have always said no matter what club your at every player, even the best player in the world Ronaldo, had his price.

 “If Liverpool come in and are sensible, we will think about it and have a discussion about it, but with a week of the transfer window left it would have to be a substantial amount of money for us to even contemplate letting our centre-forward go,”

 Those are some pretty strong accusations by Bruce, especially given the fact that he admits that neither he, his chief executive nor his chairman have heard anything from Rafa Benitez or from anybody else at Liverpool in relation to this player, in fact nobody from our club has ever made any comments about him.

It would seem more likely that these rumours may just be more tabloid rubbish or some mischief-making by an agent but in either case you would think that if Bruce was so upset by them he would pick up a telephone and check the facts before venting his spleen to the media. To make public accusations about people without making every effort to check the facts first would seem to me to be the height of disrespect so maybe the Sunderland manager needs to take a long hard look at himself in the mirror.

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