Bruce spent four nights in Portugal during the international break and returned last Monday. Sportsmail understands some players reported for training that day expecting a morning session, only to be told Bruce was not arriving back from holiday until the afternoon. The club say this was always the plan.
But a source said: ‘You’ve got players waiting hours at the training ground and some staff didn’t even know what was going on. They also turned up at training the previous Thursday only to be told Bruce had gone on holiday. They just did a gym session. They weren’t impressed.
‘Then on Monday of this week they did not train until tea-time. Players like structure, routine. But they feel like the team’s schedule is designed to suit the manager, not them.’
Some also noted a press report this week that goalkeeper Freddie Woodman would be dropped for Friday’s game.
The players know which journalists are close to Bruce and some suspected this had come from the manager before he had told them, much like they did last season when a report stating Karl Darlow would be dropped caused huge irritation behind the scenes.