TheStagMan

I disagree entirely with this - if we were playing our youngsters and they looked like they were having a go, I think 99% of fans would be behind them. You say that we wont wait - if there was a clear path for improvement and a plan that we could buy into we would. And as for the bit in bold. Really? Please. NO ONE wants Bruce to go because of 2 games this season. It is the fact that after 36 games last season, all the pre-season games AND 2 games this season (actually 3) - Bruce does not seem to have a plan A, does not seem to know what his best team is, cannot react to changes in the game and is not able to get the players to do what he wants and by his own admission, on TV "does not know how to fix it". Frankly the support he has received to date has been absolutely outstanding!

On a positive note, he is only on a rolling one year contract so compo for him will not be too bad in comparison to some of the other managers we have sacked...

Wait, What? That can't be true, surely. If it is - WTF does that say about the rest of the players? And what does it say about Bruce as a manager?

It saddens me that Agbonlahor looks like he will outlast yet another manager.

I don't expect him to be sacked yet either. Lets be clear though. I don't want Villa to lose. Ever. Against anyone. I have previously said that I hoped Bruce proves me wrong, does get this team firing and gets us promoted. Unfortunately he has not shown even a glimmer of that and frankly, performances are now getting worse. Whilst I have been in the Bruce out camp for a while now I have been hoping that I was wrong. But Bruce himself has said various worrying things such as he doesnt do tactics and doesn't know how to fix us. We also then have Wyness saying that Bruce loses sleep at nights worrying about being beaten. Ultimately whilst stability is great, if the stability means we remain rubbish as a team then he has to go. BUT - we do need to get this appointment right - and we need to have someone in the bag as soon as we get rid - none of our normal dithering and weeks of speculation. Decide who we want and go get him.

Dear lord!

And all of them given enough of a pay off to retire..... Ka Ching!

Come on Tony, tweet something like this.....

I will admit, when we first appointed Bruce I thought it was a sensible appointment, dull, predictable and unlikely to get any hearts beating but sensible - workmanlike to get us promoted, and then we could look to build from there. A safe pair of hands. Some people were concerned that he was not right for the job in hand, posts from fans of previous clubs he managed were reviewed, but the negatives were dismissed. He has an excellent CV. He got Hull and Birmingham City promoted, he must be able to do the same for us. But ultimately, last season was a disaster, we went on a run of losses, then some wins, which never looked convincing, then some more losses. But we were told its OK. He needs time to turn it around...... we had a Jan transfer window, and a slight improvement, but it didn't last. Then we were told that he just needed a summer break, transfer window and pre-season with his team. All would then be well, we would once again be feared. A force to be reckoned with. I was all excited for this season, everything would be in place - Bruce has had his mystical pre-season with HIS players (apparently this is all that was needed), the team was all balanced and all the signings made sense. But the pre-season games were worrying - nothing seemed to have changed. All the old problems and weaknesses were there on display - but we were told that "pre season doesn't mean shit", "its all about fitness", and we "shouldn't read anything into the performances". Those of us that expressed concerns were ridiculed. OK, so the season starts, surely now we can hit the ground running? We have a great squad for this level, we have an experienced manager with FOUR, count them FOUR promotions on his CV. FOUR!!!!!! Surely a fifth was now on the cards to grace that illustrious CV. Then we played HULL. Oh dear! For 20 minutes I thought we had turned a corner...... we looked bright. Even that Gabby bloke looked lively and scored a goal, maybe Bruce was right after all. And then we went back to being shit. again. But its OK, Hull are a good team (albeit one that has been stripped of its best players, in meltdown with a manager who has never managed in England in his first game). We shouldn't expect to win. That's OK then. Then we played the League 2 powerhouse that is Colchester United. We beat them. Just. During that game our defence was torn apart on several occasions. But its OK, it was the conditions, apparently these conditions did not affect the other team. That's OK then. And then we played an actually decent team with a decent enough manager (albeit one most Villa fans would think was too shit for us), and the feared hammering happened. We could have been looking at 6-0 if Cardiff were a bit more accurate and our Keeper wasn't at the top of his game. You know what??? ITS NOT OK ANY MORE. ENOUGH! Cardiff showed that the excuses are done. Bruce has to go. People will say that we are a laughing stock for sacking our manager after 2 games, but ultimately over 40+ games there has been no improvement shown. There is no reason to think more games will produce anything but more of the same. If we want to get promoted we have to act now. The pundits and "experts" on the telly will wring their hands and say how Steve has not been given a chance, how it is unfair and he needed more time, and how Villa are really nasty. Well BOLLOX to them. We need to do what is right for ASTON VILLA. Stevey boy Wonder has had 40+ games, with the kind of backing and resources at his disposal that pretty much every manager at this level would crawl over broken glass for, and many of them have achieved far more with far less. Adios Bruce. Your time is up.

In which case he needs to go now. What is going to change in the next 3 games that hasn't shown any signs of changing in the last 40?

No, its managerial competency

So do I, but there is zero chance of that happening.

I doubt they are being offered any more

WTF just happened?

Thing is, he is technically still our player, just out on loan, so this thread doesn't head off to "Other football" for a while yet......

Yeah, you can only park on his head after 6pm or on Sundays.

Just North of Venezuela (about 40 miles), next major island East of Aruba. Part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands....

I have bashed Bruce plenty on here, but I am not going to bash him for that one. The conditions were abysmal - to the point that game was very close to being called off. Weather like that really is a leveler. At one point a cross-field ball didn't make it to its intended target because it hit the ground, there was a huge splash and it pretty much stopped dead. Plus you could see how fired up they were and that Szmodics bloke looked like a complete pshyco. What I did see was some nice attempts at passing, and a bit of decent skill from Onomah and O'Hare Our defence was dreadful. We were cut open far to easily and Samba in the first half was in full Micah Richards mode. In the second half he improved, but boy oh boy...... although I am not going to be too critical as it really was a makeshift defence. Thor..... Oh my word, every time I have seen this guy in action he has been terrible. I know he was playing out of position but some of his passing was woeful even given the conditions. Hogan made some nice, intelligent runs, and Onomah is going to be one hell of a player.

errrrrr, I think you were watching a different game, their keeper made a bunch of decent saves from Adomah, Green and Hogan. At one point I was actually wondering if we could swap him for Johnstone. Their keeper (apart from the fumble for our first goal) did well and kept them in it. Plus - we won a game on Sky!!!!

No he doesn't

Knowing Bruce, he will probably try to play Leandro f*****g Bacuna there!

Well, he hasn't had to waste time working or playing football :-)

Yes. And possibly continue afterwards too.

No it doesn't what beggars belief is that after a bunch of new players, and a pre season, the same frailties are there. They do not seem to have been addressed.

Its is also alarming how the manager has not learned from past mistakes, and despite having 40+ games, 11 months, 2 transfer windows, a team of his own players (some of whom he refuses to play and puts Bacuna on instead), a full pre season (all he needed apparently). We STILL play like the day he arrived, we STILL cannot hols a lead and look convincing, we STILL do not make timely substitutions and it does not look like it is improving. In my job, if the people directing me did not look like they knew what they were doing, or were ineffective, or were not meeting targets, or were telling us to do wrong things, they WOULD be gone after 6-12 months - and do you know what - a change in manager would not make me forget how to do the basics of my job.