Bruce adamant takeover talk will not distract him at Newcastle

Steve Bruce has insisted he will not allow himself or his players to be distracted by the latest chapter in Newcastle’s takeover saga.

The Magpies woke on Friday morning to be greeted by headlines suggesting former Manchester United and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, with the support of United States-based backers, has launched a second bid to buy the club after failing to do so last year.

Newcastle have not commented on the reports, but the PA news agency understands there has been no formal bid, and that club officials are regarding the latest claims with extreme scepticism having seen a series of potential buyers fall by the wayside in recent years.

It was all news to Bruce as he conducted his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Leicester, and he was planning to carry on regardless until he is told any different.

He said: “It’s got nothing to do with me. I’m not really bothered about it. I’ve been involved with them before. It’s something I can’t really influence. I don’t know anything. You [the media] find out before me.

“It’s an ongoing saga, isn’t it? Until its bona fide, I think people are saying, ‘Here we go again’. It’s not going to influence me. I can’t influence that.

“The only thing I can influence… hopefully we can play better than we did last Saturday.”

Given Mike Ashley’s exasperated insistence after a series of false dawns that any future takeover talks would be conducted in private, the leaking of a 46-page brochure designed to attract investors to join Kenyon and his Florida-based GACP Sports partners has done little to inspire confidence that things could be different this time around.

In the meantime, Bruce will concentrate on improving upon a performance in last Saturday’s 0-0 home draw with Brighton which fell far, far short of expectations.

Miguel Almiron, a £21million signing from Atlanta United in January, has found himself under fire for a lack of end product this season – he is yet to score for the club – but Bruce is not about to ditch him.

The head coach said: “I haven’t thought about him coming out of the team because I think he’s a very, very good player. I’ve got to stick with him because hopefully he will get a goal and that will turn things around a bit.”