Okonokos

3 minutes ago, Kingman said:

Now on yellow SSN Ticker as breaking news. "Spurs offer £15m for Jack Grealish"

Pathetic offer!

2 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

I'd call what happened at Wembley a complete and uttter disaster. Presided over, by, what you would describe as " safe hands " . 

I'll take the risk, please.

I described him as safe hands in relation to next season, not last season. If we are facing a relegation battle and need to stay in the league then I'd say he is a safer pair of hands than most managers we could realistically get.

1 minute ago, Rob182 said:

There's always an element of risk with any manager. I agree that Bruce will bring certain positives. It's just my personal preference that, if the opportunity arose (I.e: he offered his resignation or someone poached him from us), I'd let him leave and look forward to a season of the unknown - and cross my fingers that it didn't backfire spectacularly.

I'm not one of these people that reads about football outside of their own club, so I'm not able to suggest lists of potential replacements, but there must be up-and-coming managers out there that would easily see a mid-table squad into a mid-table position.

Yeah, I think there are a few decent young, forward thinking managers out there who could do a job, but it's a question of can we get them? If we have no money then how do we pay any compensation?

Basically, I'm just worried that if Bruce does go then we'd only be able to afford out of work managers and might end up with someone like Pardew! No thanks, I'll stick with Bruce.

2 minutes ago, Rob182 said:

It depends @Okonokos. It depends on what state you think our squad will be in next season. I personally don't think we'll automatically be main relegation contenders needing a safe pair of hands to guide us to the promise land of mid-table safety. I still think we'll have a squad of mid-table quality, even if we lose Grealish, Chester and Kodjia, and therefore I don't particularly want another season of Bruce bringing in 34-year-olds on one-year deals to 'steady the ship'. I'd rather go for a manager who maybe has a couple of Plans past 'A', and maybe some previous experience in developing youngsters. Something to start the Aston Villa rebuild, as opposed to being 'steadied' for however long Steve Bruce decides to stick around before he inevitably leaves us.

Yes, absolutely it does completely depend on the squad we have for the upcoming season. I guess we'll just have to be patient and see what happens in the transfer window. I agree, I don't think we'll be automatic relegation contenders, however who really knows what's going on at the club right now. This time next week we might have been taken over and everything looks rosy or we could be in administration and facing a points deduction.

I just think realistically, the best we can hope for is a "steady the ship"/consolidation type of season where hopefully we can then start to rebuild next summer if the finances have been sorted out by then. Taking everything into account I just think we'd be better off sticking with Bruce than going for what else is out there. ANY realistic new manager would be too risky right now.

3 minutes ago, Rob182 said:

We don't even know whether a different manager using a different style of play last season would have seen us finish higher than under Bruce. If someone had suggested the Fulham manager to you last season, they'd have got laughed at. Likewise if a little-known name like David Wagner or Nuno had been suggested, the usual "Bruce is the safe pair of hands" response would have been given.

If we're sticking with Bruce, then I'll take the positives that that brings (his footballing contacts, stability, continuity, a defensive approach that will be equipped for avoiding relegation if we do lose a lot of players), but if he was to leave, I would be looking at a completely different set of positives with the prospect of a new manager.

But that's exactly the point. An unknown manager COULD  be a total success but may also be a complete and utter disaster. That's the risk. And it is a risk we absolutely cannot take right now. Now is a time for "safe hands" more than ever.

2 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Needing"safe hands" and all that hyperbole nonsense is why we are still "safely" in the Championship with folks like you claiming we need safe hands ffs.

The goalposts will never stop moving for people who want Bruce to stay.

Name one manager who we can realistically get to replace Bruce who could do a better job in the current circumstances then.

Right now, anything could happen. We could well be in a relegation battle next season, so a safe pair of hands to help us stay "safely in the Championship" could be exactly what we need. We need to be very careful what we wish for at times like these. I totally believe that in our current predicament Bruce is the man for the job.

3 minutes ago, praisedmambo said:

Re: Bruce is sucking the joy out of watching Villa. 

I have to agree with Okonokos...how much joy was there in watching Villa before he came? From that perspective, and in fairness, from the perspective of reality, he's been a bit of a revelation. His football does feel incredibly limited and I like everyone wonder about an attacking genius coming in, but last season was the best in ages. 

I've genuinely not enjoyed a season so much probably since the 07/08 season, which was the best Villa team I've seen. I went to games expecting us to win, instead of maybe hoping for a draw. And I honestly don't think the football was as bad as some people make out. Look at the Derby home game for example. We were losing until the 85th minute but I still thoroughly enjoyed watching the game, so much so that I didn't want it to end. Nobody can say we didn't play good football that day. Same goes for the Wolves home game.

We also mustn't forget that we were missing Grealish until December. Kodjia was effectively out for the season also.Terry was out with a broken foot for 10 games as well as various other injuries. The three teams that finished above us, did they at any point have the injuries that we did? Take the best three players from each of those teams out for the same length of time that ours were out for and I bet they wouldn't have coped as well as we did. Any team would miss players of that quality and yet, we were 90 minutes away from promotion in the end.

1 minute ago, sne said:

By my standards that was a pretty cheerful post 

But honestly Bruce is playing a big part in sucking the joy out of watching Villa.

Added with everything else that is rotten at the club I'd find it very difficult to into next season with him at the helm.

And as I've said I think he'd be a terrible fit for the job at hand.

Can I ask why that is? Because personally I enjoyed last season more than any other season since O'Neill left.

Sky Sports saying his future will be decided tomorrow...

8 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Wonder what the position is with Wyness now? He’s been suspended but no official explanation of why. Will he be sacked? If so, when? Presumably he is talking to solicitors preparing a case for breach of contract/unfair dismissal. When will this surface.

So many unanswered questions as with most aspects of the running of the club st present.

I was thinking this yesterday. All seems to have gone quiet regarding Wyness. We need this sorting as soon as possible as this will be the first step towards clearing this mess up. Hopefully we'll hear something this week.

43 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

You could be right. As much as I rate Chester is he that much better than any centre halves in the top flight ? 

If he moved to another Championship club then that would be a pretty hard to stomach. 

Yes, absolutely. Unfortunately for us of course. I'd say he'd probably be a starter for 8-10 of the current top flight teams. He showed at the Euros a couple of years ago he can play at the top level.

10 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

"Acceptance".

We can cut lots of cloth and still be able to pay his wages, and build a young team around him.

He is a Villa fan and just might want to play a big part in our revival.

Going by multiple reports he wants to stay and the club want him to stay.

smh.

I'm almost certain he wants to give us one more year at least.

What reports have you read about him wanting to stay? It would be absolutely amazing if there is any way we could keep him. Just imagine the morale boost it would give everybody involved at the club. If we do somehow keep him then I'd say it would potentially be the most important piece of transfer business we've ever done.

Hi, lifelong Villa fan here. Been a season ticket holder for over 10 years. Used to read the forum a lot in the past but not so much in recent years. Recently started reading again and thought it might be time to join up.  UTV