AntrimBlack

Glad you pointed that out. Gee, I would never have thought of that. I am not talking about galvanising the players. Promotion was the target for the players this season - look how that went. I am talking about posters using top ten as a yardstick for the retention or otherwise of Bruce. If we scrape wins to get us to top ten, but the performances are poor, it means nothing in my opinion.

Why would we aim for top ten, or use it as a bench mark. Totally unimportant - I don't care. I want to see performances that indicate that we have a chance of going up next season.

her. she.

her

Short is looking for big money for them to cover his losses. Unless they get taken over, they are in deep shit. A shame really - a proper club - one of the originals.

139 posts, JE-, and you joined us in February 27. You have become very noticeable in a very short time. Where were you before February?

I'm ok with that.

Yes. I am a big fan of leaving a fast player up the pitch to occupy a couple of the opposition players.

Reading through the thread, it would appear we only have to wait for our luck to change. Not sure I am happy with that as a way forward.

And I understand what you are saying, but my eyes are now firmly fixed on next season.

Whilst it would be great to get a result, I am more interested in the performance. We need to see this team play like a team, to give us any hope for next season. Scraping a dire win, excellent though that would be, probably would not tell us very much.

You have used this in your last couple of posts. Just to please a cranky old man, would you consider using Aston Villa instead? AVFC hurts my eyes

Absolutely, and I am delighted that we won, but it is because of the manner of the win that I remain doubtful.

Forgive me, but with this squad in the Championship, I would be expecting this as a minimum.

From what I hear about the performance, I am far from convinced.

Can we please not call him Greenade.

Always look on the bright side - I like that, Brommy.

I think you may be overestimating how much people notice or even care about us nowadays.

I agree with what you say about explaining their decision, but I was not actually referring to that, though I may not have made that clear. What I mean is where the referee will say, ``White, 10, back'', to prevent them committing a foul, or almost coaching them about various actions in,for instance, the scrum. I find it quite fascinating.

Would you agree with me that he needs to be judged at the end of the season at the latest?

With an expensively assembled squad and back room staff, we have managed to stave off relegation from the second tier of English football. To say I am less than overjoyed would be putting it mildly.

There is no doubt in my mind that Bruce was brought in to achieve promotion this season, and in that he has failed abysmally, as we won't even come close. I was not particularly enthused about his appointment, but this was the big positive for me. I am 100% sure that he will also be unable to fulfil Xia's lofty ambitions, and I think he was only ever a stop gap - the man to get us up - then goodbye. Now I am not even convinced that he can get us up next year, and, if that is the case, we could be destined to spend a long time in the lower reaches of English football.

I like him very much. He is doing well in a team that turns in fragmented performances every game. He is 18, and has time on his side. He will be a good 'un.

Agree totally with this. I love the rugby referees, the way they talk to and advise the players during the game, but also take absolutely no shit from them. One word of dissent and they are off to the sin bin. Also, by the way, something football would do well to adopt. An immediate 10 minutes of advantage to the opposing side as well as a cooling off period for the player. And I do not accept this `passionate player' being used as an excuse; rugby players are no less passionate than football players, and rugby is a much more aggressive game. There is no excuse for the way footballers behave, they really are spoilt prima donnas.

You seem to be saying that our victory, in spite of an appalling performance, is because we dropped him? I prefer to think that we achieved our narrow victory because we were playing a very poor Championship side.