DaveAV1

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

probably no transfer fee involved  

Payment in Pedigree Chum shares 

1 hour ago, Nigel said:

The first season it will be!

Well realistically yes I'd agree, but the Doc's idea of staying up is only qualifying for the Europa League amd winning the FA Cup. At least that's how it is in my dream   

2 minutes ago, Nigel said:

I think he would be well capable of the next phase of the plan in keeping us afloat the next year. I think that would be his ceiling though!

He's been more miss than hit in the Prem. In any given season he may be able to keep us up, but I don't think keeping us a float is anything that remotely mirrors the Doc's ambitions. But first of course there is the small matter of him being able to significantly up his game and actually get us promoted. 

1 hour ago, BOF said:

Or, Bruce gets us up and then we change manager.

I think that is almost certainly the plan. Xia paid Bruce a back handed compliment shortly after he became manager, along the lines that he was pleasantly surprised by Bruce and his attitude to learn. He went on to say that he might be ok to stay on after we were promoted after all. Thereby clearly indicating that the plan was for Bruce to get us up ( as a promotion expert) and then thank him very much and move on to another manager for the next phase of the plan. 

3 hours ago, Zatman said:

I know he is a dud but in fairness its end of season. what should he be doing?

He should be hawking himself to Harry Rednapp!

7 minutes ago, AshVilla said:

If Whelan means we will never see Hourihane or Lansbury playing deep when Jedinak is injured i 100% approve of this signing.

Keep them up the pitch please.

 

When you say "keep them up the pitch", surely you mean "get them up the pitch"? As they nor anyone else has really been up the pitch so far.

54 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Glenn Whelan is wank and also a thug. **** that. 

So is that a no?

5 minutes ago, TRO said:

So it follows that Xia appointed Wyness, so he must be shite too.

especially as Lerner took all the criticism for appointing all the incumbents.

as you perhaps suspect.....i am playing a little devils advocate......but we do seem to be a selective bunch us villa fans

kinda, if your face fits.

We're not fickle.......... 

1 hour ago, briny_ear said:

OK, let's compare their records over 36 games - well, better make it 35 because that's the number of league games Bruce actually had.

So in those 35 games, Bruce's Villa got 52 points. Wagner's Huddersfield got 56. 

Not so extreme a difference, eh?

The main differences may be

a) Wagner had a full season in 2015/6 to develop his team - one in which he nearly relegated them. Bruce had 3/4 of a season which included buying and trying to integrate around 7 new players;

b ) Huddersfield had an absolutely stonking start to the season - 25 points from their first 11 games and top of the table. That helped carry them through two later spells of really quite poor form. Bruce was handed a pile of shite by RDM and sadly our one spell of really quite poor form under Bruce was enough to knock us out of contention.

Full respect to Wagner and Huddersfield. They have earned their season in the premier league and I hope they enjoy it (although I guess Wagner may not stick around).

Can we stop talking about Huddersfield now, please? 

 

I'm certainly on board with stopping talking about Huddersfield. I can't believe how much we've spoken about them, myself included!

I take on board your whole season stats though. I remain sceptical but I hope I'm wrong about Steve Bruce. 

39 minutes ago, TRO said:

Desperate.

do you put your money on your horse just as his nose is touching the line?

No that's why I'm questioning the critics of Wagner just as his nose was crossing the line. And what exactly did I say that was desperate TRO? Or to be desperate about?

For the record on the very odd occasion I put 50p on a horse, my choice is made based on sound, scientific and sporting research. Like the nags name or the colours it's running in. I'll leave you to work out my thinking on the colour factor. 

4 minutes ago, Villan_of_oz said:

Bruce In 

I see you've taken to wearing a balaclava to hide your identity when making that statement these days Oz 

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

 

He cleverly thinks giving us the Barca kit will turn us into them.

You're right! And it would be fascinating to see how Messi performs as a defensive midfielder 

7 hours ago, Godders said:

8Huddersfield conceded 10 more than us this season. Their goal difference was worse than ours. They lost by 3 or more goals on 4 occasions. They didn't score a goal in the entire playoffs. They lost 9-1 on aggregate to Fulham! If that's what a progressive manager means, I'd rather stick with Bruce. 

Seriously, looking at some of their results, our supporters would be calling for his head if he was here, despite the style of football he was playing. 

I don't particularly like the comparison to Huddersfield to be honest. Yes they went up, but they've massively overachieved in doing so imo. I can't help but think they could be in for a massive shock next season. The jury is still out on the Wagner hype for me. I don't know to what extent this season was a Leicester-esque outlier, or the fact that Wagner is the best manager in the league. At the moment I'm leaning towards the former.

I don't particularly like the comparison between us and Huddersfield either. They've just been promoted and we've just finished 13th. As for over achieving I've never really seen that as a negative. 

4 hours ago, TRO said:

To be fair Dave......There may be a time, when i come around to your way of thinking.....but not now.

At present i think the JOB needs more time and I will stay with that position until I think we have had enough time and there is no improvement.

I feel that stopping the rot IS improvement.

I hope you don't need to come around to my way of thinking and everything comes right, leading to us taking the league by storm. Only time will tell. 

3 hours ago, CosmicVillan said:

At home against Cardiff

Chester was immense iirc and we scored 3 goals..the lamb casserole was also delicious that day.

 

We rely to much on the lamb casserole, we need strength all over the menu. Where's the apple pie?

10 minutes ago, TRO said:

No....I'm giving you examples of factors that could be at play......other than Steve Bruce being the fault of everything we currently see on display.

As opposed to blameless?

1 hour ago, KSV said:

So this fella.. will probably stay another few years. 

Hes not a great defender. Has pace and strength... can we play him as a defensive midfielder? Probably wouldnt be in the first team.. but give him a ago in the reserves and see how he goes. Needs to go on the Gabby fitness program. 

I really cant see how we will get rid of him.. so is there a way to make him useful to the squad? We have 3 RB's already in the squad. 

I applaud your pragmatic approach, but unfortunately you can't polish a turd. 

13 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I've come to the conclusion there are some fans that will never like Bruce regardless of what he achieves.  I just don't get why. After the dross we have witnessed for about 7 years what do fans actually want? I just want promotion and I don't care how it comes. We could be the most boring ugliest team to watch in the league but if we finish top 2 who gives a ****? All that should matter is results. I just don't get it.  

For me it's not a case of liking or not liking a manager. As a bloke I like Steve Bruce. I want him to succeed because that will mean Villa succeed, I just don't think he will. This argument of results over style is a valid one, but the two are not mutually exclusive. It seems to be that there is a growing opinion that we have to play ugly because that is successful, and attractive football is nice but ineffective. That is just not true, in most cases the opposite is true. The top two, which is surely our goal next season, both played attractive football. Which of the play off teams play negative hoofball?

I'm sure people will argue that Steve Bruce knows this and will play a more expansive game next season, once he's had the preseason to sort things out and add more players. I will be delighted if that's how things pan out. However I believe football is constantly evolving and Steve isn't able to evolve quickly enough with it. I hope I'm wrong. 

34 minutes ago, Villan_of_oz said:

You might want to read my post again its actually pretty funny if I do say so myself. 

I read it 

2 hours ago, Grasshopper said:

The Dave in question knows no different. Doesnt take tips from mates,(better golfers) or have lessons from the Pro.

He thinks he knows better.

Anyway, this is the Bruce thread.

I wonder if/how Bruce plays golf

He takes 4 puts to get off the tee then hits a long iron 

2 hours ago, Villan_of_oz said:

I heard he will only come here if we replace Bruce and get a new manger....

I knew you'd get on board in the end 

On 24/05/2017 at 14:02, sparrow1988 said:

Not very likely I'd say. He's still got 17 months of a ban to go hasn't he?

Well if Harry needs a dog walker I'd say he's nailed on. 

43 minutes ago, Villan_of_oz said:

But your mate realises that if he stops coming from outside the ball on his downswing he can correct his slice. Goes away and works on it for in the off season.

Starts the new season looking like a new golfer. 

I use to slice the ball now I draw it. 

Change can happen. 

Just have to give it time. 

Snap. 

Next golf analogy. 

Well Brucie is new to the game, give him time.