Newcastle confident they have no legal case to answer in appointment of Steve Bruce

Newcastle United are confident they have no case to answer over the appointment of Steve Bruce despite the threat of legal action made by his former club Sheffield Wednesday.

Wednesday reacted angrily to a statement from Newcastle last Wednesday saying they had appointed Bruce as their new head coach on a three-year deal, claiming they had still been negotiating the compensation package required to allow him to leave.

But Telegraph Sport understands that Bruce had told Wednesday on the previous Friday that he was leaving for Newcastle after the clause in his contract to trigger his release had been activated by the Magpies.

The sum needed to free Bruce from his one-year rolling contract was considerably less than the reported £4m fee that had been leaked to the media during the increasingly fractious talks.

However, Wednesday chairman Dejphon Chansiri still refused to accept Bruce’s departure and is understood to have made a series of further demands over the weekend which included the loan signings of Newcastle players Achraf Lazaar and Rolando Aarons.

Both players had spent the second half of last season at Wednesday after Bruce had signed them on loan from Newcastle. Wednesday also wanted to ensure they would be able to loan more players in the future, while contributing just a small fraction of their wages.

Newcastle, though, rejected those requests which prompted Wednesday to refuse to accept Bruce’s departure, even though the clause in his contract had been activated.

The Premier League club have pointed out that, legally, they have fulfilled the requirements needed to release Bruce from his contract and have refused to accept any wrongdoing. They have dismissed the suggestion that the first Wednesday knew of Bruce’s appointment was the statement confirming he was coming in as Rafa Benitez’s replacement.

Wednesday are still taking legal advice before deciding on their next move but said in their own statement last week.

“The Club is disappointed to learn via public statement issued by Newcastle United that it has appointed former Sheffield Wednesday staff Steve Bruce, Steve Agnew and Steve Clemence.

“Regardless of the fact that the staff resigned from their positions with the Club on Monday, there remains outstanding legal issues to be resolved between the club and the staff and NUFC. The Club is currently considering its position and taking the appropriate legal advice.”