Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce said on Thursday that he recognised he might soon be sacked following the top-flight club's takeover by a Saudi Arabian-backed consortium.
The Premier League earlier announced that Newcastle had been sold to a consortium consisting of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media.
Bruce, who is set to take charge of the 1,000th game in his managerial career when Newcastle host Tottenham Hotspur on Oct. 17, said he would understand if the new owners replaced him.
"I want to continue, I'd like the chance to show the new owners what I can do, but you have to be realistic and they may well want a new manager to launch things for them," he told The Daily Telegraph.
"New owners normally want a new manager. I've been around long enough to understand that."
READ: Newcastle United's Saudi takeover complete
The 60-year-old Bruce, who was appointed Newcastle manager in July 2019, was already on thin ice after a dismal start to the campaign that has left Newcastle languishing second-from-bottom in the league without a win after seven games.
"I have said from the first day news of this takeover came out in public that if it is the best thing for the football club, if it takes this magnificent football club forward then I am all for it," Bruce added.
"I'm not going to be bitter or angry about anything, whatever happens. Of course there will be sadness if I lose my job. It's the job I've wanted my whole life... and as hard as it's been, I have been enormously proud to be manager of Newcastle United. That will never change."
Bruce, a lifelong Newcastle fan, added that he was pained by some of the criticism and abuse he had received during his tenure.
"Some of the things written and said about me, the abuse on social media, I'm just glad my parents were not still alive to see and hear it because it would have broken their hearts," he said.
"This was their home and their people. This was their city, it is where I'm from and where I always wanted to return. But as tough as it has been, I've tried to enjoy it as much as I can.
"The takeover is a chance for this club to be what every supporter has wanted it to be for so long. If this is the real deal, I'll be happy for the fans because, at the end of the day, that is what I am."
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