'That'll shut a few people up,' said Steve Bruce, who went on to talk about a supportive phone call from Alex Ferguson, who'd told him to 'keep his head down'.
Unfortunate, that having guided Newcastle to one of their best away wins under the Ashley maladministration, the manager makes himself sound so small. Under immense, deserved criticism last week, Bruce cut a panicked, desperate figure. Meanwhile, the fact that, approaching his 59th birthday, he still makes himself sound like a schoolboy sat at Ferguson's feet does nothing to demolish the argument that he's a man out of his depth.
Most unfortunate of all, while the league table is merely embryonic at this stage NUFC remain in the relegation zone. This victory only prevented them being cut adrift with Watford. And Watford at SJP are their next league opponents.
Lose that game, and all the good done by yesterday's victory will be scattered to the winds. Too fickle? Only if you don't remember the 2015/16 campaign. Newcastle mugged Spurs 2-1 at White Hart Lane that year. They drew home and away against Manchester United (who at that stage, remember, still looked capable of bouncing back from the glories of the Sir David Moyes era), drew at home to Chelsea, and beat Liverpool at SJP during one of Klopp's early games. But the season ended in relegation, because when they played the mid- and lower-table teams, they didn't perform. That tendency to pick and choose when they applied themselves drew justifiable scorn from Jose Mourinho, and it'll be hard to avoid a similar reaction if, either side of the shop-window game against a top six outfit come miserable displays in fixtures that only Newcastle United fans are watching.
From the moment he walked through the door, Bruce begged for patience. Ironic that his own behaviour has wanted that quality. He inherited a 3-4-3 team that was notable for its organisation, but so besotted did he become with Jonjo Shelvey that he binned the tried and tested to usher in a sort of 3-5-1-1 that aimed to accommodate Hayden, Longstaff and Shelvey, while using Almiron more centrally too. Jonjo Shelvey is a test case - if you strive to build your team around him you are a fool, and your inevitable sacking is deserved. I'd like to think his being dropped now at last marks his end at Newcastle United. Given he's one of the club's highest earners he'll be hard to dispose of, but he simply hasn't the temperament to be a side's main man.
Bruce supporters are annoyed by those who've pointed out that the team won yesterday reverting to Benitez's formation. It is only the truth. Bruce deserves equal credit for not stubbornly persisting with a formation that had failed and blame for imposing it in the first place against Arsenal and Norwich. A win over Spurs is a nice scalp for him, but it'll look less clever if come May Newcastle finishes in 18th, and Norwich are 17th, with the margin between the teams three points or less.
Joelinton's goal and general performance are cause for optimism. He's far from the finished article, but in that game alone he showed greater aptitude for leading a Premier League attack than Mitrovic ever did. Like the Serb, alas, much is being asked of him so early in his EPL career. The sense that the team will live or die dependent on his finishing is hardly diminished by yesterday's events.
'Enjoy the victory, don't pick' say the Bruceophiles. All very well, but eleven victories are necessary to stay in the Premier League. And Newcastle United should aim far higher than that anyway. Hopefully Alex Ferguson told Steve Bruce that consistency of results defines sports people - for good or ill. Hopefully Bruce passes the message to his players. And hopefully the players listen. Maybe yesterday marks the beginning of an unlikely success story. On the other hand, the longest-lasting outcome from the game may be the loss of Saint-Maximin with a re-aggravation of an injury. He started at Tottenham on the back of only two training sessions, rushed back by a manager preaching patience while scrabbling desperately for a short-term boost to his credibility.