Steve Bruce reveals he has received online death threats

Steve Bruce has revealed he has received online death threats and has called on social media companies to crack down on “vile and obscene” behaviour. The Newcastle manager’s comments came on the day English football’s leaders wrote an open letter to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey demanding they tackle the spread of abuse on their platforms.

Bruce, when discussing his experience, mentioned death threats sent to the referee Mike Dean and members of Dean’s family, which prompted the official to withdraw from duties this weekend.

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“These big companies have got to police it better,” Bruce said. “The abuse I’ve had, death threats and all this sort of stuff. When I see the referee become a target for it because he has made a mistake, people threatening his life, it’s absolutely obscene and totally ridiculous. They need to clamp down on it and they need to police it better because there are vulnerable people out there and it’s vile some of it.

“I don’t go on it but people close to me do and they are sensitive towards their father and yes [there have been death threats] … Some of the stuff I’ve had has been obscene. You feel the hatred and something has to be done.”

Bruce said he had been unaware of threats directed at him until his family brought it to his attention when discussing Dean’s situation. “It’s really horrible stuff, which I couldn’t really get my breath with,” he said. “Things like someone saying they hope I die of Covid.”

Newcastle will be without their striker Callum Wilson for up to eight weeks after he tore a hamstring in Saturday’s 3-2 win over Southampton. “Unfortunately Callum has a deep tear to his hamstring and that could be six to eight weeks,” Bruce said. The defenders Fabian Schär and Javier Manquillo are also likely to be out for eight weeks with knee and ankle injuries respectively, Bruce said.