Mark Albrighton

Bruce will get called out on certain things more than other managers because he’s our former manager. As well as being our most recent former manager, he’s also been more “relevant” to us since leaving us, as he’s managed a championship club who, at a push, could have been a play off rival, and is now on course to manage a potential relegation rival. Added to that we’ve been modifying a squad he had a sizeable involvement with assembling. He’s much more noteworthy than, say, Paul Lambert. For now, anyway. All this picking over the bones isn’t unique to us. Have a look at Sunderland’s forum, they’re regularly talking about Bruce too and it’s been years since he left them. If you’re keen for more (and I can’t think of a reason why you wouldn’t be), several of the Bruce threads on Sheffield Wednesday’s forum make for interesting reading. You have about 6 or 7 threads to choose from. It’s not a unique thought but I think Bruce is pulled up by supporters for more things than perhaps other managers are because of the view that he gets a generally easy (easier) time in the press.

A winger/wide right forward who if needed could play up top as the main striker would be great. I know Leao’s name was mentioned a few weeks ago, all seems to have gone quiet so don’t see that happening. But someone like that would be really great, would happily see us pay a bit more for that kind of versatility.

This is neither positive or negative on Bruce, but I think (?) that if Bruce resigned now, Wednesday would still be due some compensation. Didn’t Lambert technically resign but we still had to pay Norwich a bit in compensation? I remember there being some legal goings on afterwards.

Guys, look! Stevo definitely thinks Bruce is marriage material.

And West Ham (in the little table under current club)

Tittle-tattle, surely? Tickle tackle is more like this -

That means you have just over 3 hours to create a load of Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special cra....ahem, I mean merchandise from things you can find around the house and make a few quid. There was that bit with Nessa wearing a Villa kit, find an old one out and write “Dave’s coaches” or something in tipp-ex. You’ll make £100 easy.

Looking back through his thread, Wesley’s transfer subject to the work permit was announced on 13th June and finally confirmed by the club on 2nd July, so just shy of three weeks. That’s not saying it took that long to process, but that’s how long it was between announcements by the club regarding the transfer. My guess is, assuming it all goes ahead, this will just be announced as being done when all the paperwork has been completed. No “subject to...” caveats. I hope.

I think the hope would have been it was just a marriage of convenience...

I make it about £76m so far? Based on the numbers I’ve seen quoted the most. Jota 2m El Ghazi 6m Wes 22m Hause 3m Targett 11m (rising to 17m) Mings 20m (rising to 26m) Konsa 12m

Yes, it makes more sense if it’s villa fans taking the piss. The original tweet suggested otherwise. Still, Baggies won’t be happy that some Villa supporters have paired off small heath & Coventry together.

No doubt influenced by the exchange he had today with this Sheffield Wednesday supporter.

“Speculation is speculation”. Then he proceeds to confirm that discussions are being held. I don’t think he fully understands what “speculation” means.

The thing that makes me question it is it says #avfc rather than “sotv”. Believable though.

Baggies will be unhappy about seeing their current beau being seen in this public display of affection -

It’s the club he supported as a kid so there’s that appeal. But in fairness, if Newcastle were a mid table league one side he wouldn’t go for it. The main reason is because they’re in the premier league, which is a more than adequate reason for a manager in a lower league to want to go. If he was a player you’d expect him to want to move up a level. Whether this is actually a good move, I really don’t know. If it does go wrong, I can’t help but wonder whether a club with a similar stature of Sheffield Wednesday would come calling when his last three jobs ended up in a mixture of failure and jumping ship at the earliest possible moment. He’ll earn more so in that regard it’s good for him. On a more personal level, I do wonder if he ever thinks about the song and dance he made about loyalty all those years ago.

Signed a new contract.

It’s probably a false memory, but the way I recall it was that there was a fairly vocal dissatisfaction with McClaren and when that disappeared there was sort of a lull and then the McLeish appointment took everyone by surprise. There was a bit of a protest but the threat of McClaren threw people off and McLeish was the sucker punch. It sort of staggered any outrage. Like I say, probably a false memory but that’s how I remember it playing out. All very quick. Without wanting to reference cabbages, Bruce was welcomed in the same way as accepting more greens on your plate. Not the most exciting thing, but sensible and with the idea that at least they’ll be better for you.

I’d be curious to see how those colours change depending on whom you would be fighting.

Well at least arguing about spending £15m on a Manchester City player who we may lose for a profit if disaster strikes and he plays well for us is slightly different than arguing about spending £20m on players from Bristol City, Brentford or Bournemouth.

I initially thought the thread title it meant try and assemble players you’ve ran into on the street or something....I’ve met Brian Little, stood next to Gary Shaw, I once saw Keith Curle in Wolverhampton’s Queen Square....would struggle with a full team. I attend sporadically (fewer these days), and when I do I haven’t been to loads of games when we’ve played top opposition, so a lot of the players are gonna be from that fa cup game we lost 3-2 to Man Utd....urgh ****ing predictably nightmarish. To restrict myself, I’m only using opposition players (to avoid the inevitable inclusion of McGrath, Yorke etc) - N.Martyn G.Neville. S.Campbell. L.Blanc. I.Harte D.Beckham. R.Keane. N.Lennon P.Scholes R.Van Nistelrooy. T.Sheringham Tricky one that, I was tempted with putting in Harry Kewell but I remember being more annoyed about Neil Lennon at the time. I think Lucas Radebe was better for Leeds than Blanc was for Man Utd when I saw them play, but I think Blanc was probably the better player overall, so went with him. Sheringham is from his time at Spurs. As is traditional I’ve decided to stick Scholes out on the left.

I wasn’t taking it as anger or vitriol, I just aware that I’d found myself edging closer than ever before to being seen as Rob Dorsett’s advocate.

Ok, I didn’t say he should be absolved totally guys. Just that he’s been called out on it and he’s responded to it. I wouldn’t have expected any sort of acknowledgement of an error, certainly not on television. I don’t pay a great deal of attention to the musings of sky sports pundits, I only heard of this because of seeing it on Villareport or some such, just wanted to add that further development towards the discussion. Anyway, that Steve Bruce fella, eh?