Bruce Asks For Patience With Jerome

Steve Bruce has called for fans to be patient with new striker Cameron Jerome.

Following a few awful misses in pre season so far, Bruce has stressed that the player is not the finished article and that he will need time.

Jerome, 19, has only had one full season of league football, albeit scoring 20 goals last season.

‘I am delighted with the addition of Cameron Jerome, yes, he has missed a few chances, and it might look a bit horrible at times when one goes off his foot the wrong way, but we knew that when we took him.

‘He’s a 19-year-old boy really. We hope that we can nurture him and improve him, the raw talent is there.

‘There is no question in my mind that he will score goals at this level. And what I like about him is that he keeps coming back for more even if he has missed a chance.

‘He’s someone we have needed, someone with pace and power to maraud in behind defences. We’ve seen him do that so far in pre-season and opponents have found him a real handful.

‘His energy and youthful exuberance is refreshing and, like a lot of the players we have in the squad now, there is a real desire from him to do well.

‘We built a team before on all-energy and all-action and we’re determined to go down that route again.’

Jerome has no trouble either getting back into the positions to score, or talking about his misses:

‘I had a golden opportunity and, no, I don’t make a habit of missing them!

‘I knew the ‘keeper was going to spill Jermaine Pennant’s shot, I managed to get on to it and when the defender came out in front of me I made myself an angle.

‘The keeper was getting up off his feet so I went high – too high – and I knocked it over. It’s best to get misses like that out of the way in pre-season. I’m like any striker, they don’t affect me, I keep going and try to score the next time – which is what I did.’

I don’t mind if he misses ten chances, as long as he puts one in ten away!