Steve Bruce

[markavfc40]

Just read one of Bruce's comments after the match and he said that he was getting abuse after losing to Sheff Utd five games into the season and that this was just after he'd taken us to a play off final. Clearly in his mind reaching that play off final was an achievement and not a failure where as the achievement would have been promotion anything else was failure.

He hasn't helped himself has he. Always just slightly played down what the aim should have been. The there or thereabouts comments, focusing on the fact he hadn't had a great deal to spend in terms of fees over the last three transfer windows not on the fact he spent a small fortune on loans/wages that allowed him to assemble an excellent squad for this level. Twice. I don't know if he did this to protect himself, protect his players or a bit of both but you know what had he have reached for the stars, left no one in any uncertain terms that his team was one built for promotion and that was the sole aim that may have transmitted to the players and we may have seen less of the all too often lack lustre crap we have witnessed.

You can't fool all of the fans. You can fool some of us and he certainly had me for longer than many but 99.99% of us aren't wrong. He was given great backing, at a great club and he blew it and whilst I am sorry it came down to dogs abuse no deflecting the attention onto fans now will change that fact. Shame it is ending like this but ultimately he only has himself to blame.

Edited October 2, 2018 by markavfc40

[ciggiesnbeer]

48 minutes ago, TRO said:

They say he is a dinosaur......even dinosaur managers can protect a 2-0 lead.....its not Dinosaur, its incompetence.

Agreed even a dinosaur like Pulis did that exact thing today, away from home too.

[KentVillan]

I want Bruce to go. I don't think he has the tactical or coaching nous to get the most out of this squad, and he doesn't seem to have the behind-the-scenes managerial skills to get the whole club pulling in the right direction in terms of scouting, match preparation, etc.

However, he's a decent man, and the players seem to respect him (even though he plays them out of position). Let's not get too unrealistic about what kind of managerial genius we can attract at this level. The rot set in years ago, and Bruce has helped to partially turn things around. Now he's reached his limits and we need him to go, but he's not the worst person who's ever lived.

[MrDuck]

19 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I'll say this for him. He cares.

Tonight's interview wasn't that weird "it's my fault and now I'm sad, does everyone still love me" thing that Sherwood did a couple of times, this was a man who looked to me genuinely upset by what had happened; really shaken.

He's clearly got some drive, some pride not to leave here in this way, but you have to look at him and wonder on the effect this is having in his health, and think that with the money he has, the security he has and the lifestyle that can afford him, does he want another month of this?

 

For sure. People slating him for only hanging around for the money are way off the mark. This is the biggest job he'll ever have, and he desperately wanted to make a success of it. I have no doubt he's given absolutely everything, but unfortunately he's fallen short. Such is life.

[ciggiesnbeer]

4 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

Let's not get too unrealistic about what kind of managerial genius we can attract at this level.

Well let me add some hope. Newcastle and Leeds were in far worse shape than us when they attracted Rafa & Bielsa. So they are out there. Hopefully our new owners are willing to get us a manager which matches the size of our club rather than another grab from the lucky dip "which British/Irish manager is available"  bag they have used for years.

[The Fun Factory]

It's reached the end point. We are going nowhere and although the penalty was unlucky we gave the impetus to PNE by sitting back. By the end we were playing 4 right backs and nominated Glenn' Le Tisser' Whelan as our go to guy to take a crucial penalty. Bizarre. 

I suspect he will hang on until Saturday in which we will get hammered before being quietly let go with best wishes on both sides. His time has come.

[TRO]

36 minutes ago, markavfc40 said:

Just read one of Bruce's comments after the match and he said that he was getting abuse after losing to Sheff Utd five games into the season and that this was just after he'd taken us to a play off final. Clearly in his mind reaching that play off final was an achievement and not a failure where as the achievement would have been promotion anything else was failure.

He hasn't helped himself has he. Always just slightly played down what the aim should have been. The there or thereabouts comments, focusing on the fact he hadn't had a great deal to spend in terms of fees over the last three transfer windows not on the fact he spent a small fortune on loans/wages that allowed him to assemble an excellent squad for this level. Twice. I don't know if he did this to protect himself, protect his players or a bit of both but you know what had he have reached for the stars, left no one in any uncertain terms that his team was one built for promotion and that was the sole aim that may have transmitted to the players and we may have seen less of the all too often lack lustre crap we have witnessed.

You can't fool all of the fans. You can fool some of us and he certainly had me for longer than many but 99.99% of us aren't wrong. He was given great backing, at a great club and he blew it and whilst I am sorry it came down to dogs abuse no deflecting the attention onto fans now will change that fact. Shame it is ending like this but ultimately he only has himself to blame.

I would like to hear his rationale for that second half.....it was one of the most contrasting performances i have ever seen at villa park......they were dead and for the taking, i struggle to give PNE credit, because you have to capitulate to do what they did and we did......we then bump along and get a life line.....i can't think of another football club that would have  passed up on such a golden opportunity.....its all too pathetic for words.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, screwdriver said:

no manager resigns these days they're on too much money.

However hearing his wm interveiw he sounded very upset, like he's on the brink of walking.

The thing is if I had made loads of money through football and didn't need to work again why put yourself through all the hassle?

On the basis of that second half, i would have walked....if i thought it wasn't me.

not because i am a quitter......but because i could not be associated with that.

If he stays, he is condoning it.....because he won't turn this around.

Edited October 3, 2018 by TRO

[mottaloo]

31 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

It's reached the end point. We are going nowhere and although the penalty was unlucky we gave the impetus to PNE by sitting back. By the end we were playing 4 right backs and nominated Glenn' Le Tisser' Whelan as our go to guy to take a crucial penalty. Bizarre. 

I suspect he will hang on until Saturday in which we will get hammered before being quietly let go with best wishes on both sides. His time has come.

Whilst I agree this will be the case, I object that we have to -  in all probability - sacrifice another 3 points before he gets the push. Surely we need no further proof of his ineptitude ?

[privateer]

2 hours ago, AntrimBlack said:

No need to feel sorry for him - the money he is hanging on for will be a great comfort to him.

Indeed not. He can fund a lot of golfing holidays and kebabs w/sauce inc fries and can of drink with the payoff he's going to be getting. Let's not forget, he's in for a full year's salary. The kind of money many of us could actually retire on. Lottery win level money. For being serially useless by doing the same things that have proven to be ineffective again and again. Things that the "non-football people" - i.e., the paying public, could see shouldn't be done. And for not doing the things those same "non-football people" all could see should be done.

No. Absolutely no sympathy for him over the shit going his way after all the shit he sent our way. If he had any decency, self-awareness and professionalism he would have resigned before now for being so wretchedly inadequate in the role he is so massively rewarded for.

Unlike many, I don't like him. I don't think he is a, "Good bloke, working hard but making forgivable mistakes and being plagued by ill-fortune".

On the contrary. I think he is an arrogant, deluded, smug prick who isn't making forgivable mistakes but rather being massively incompetent when going about the basics of the role and has actually been incredibly lucky to have scraped some of the results he has this season.

[Junxs]

I've seen the "steadied the ship" comments again in the last few pages.. For me the ship is in exactly the same place as it was this time 2 years ago. 

[briny_ear]

The moronic act of throwing a cabbage at our manager is the physical manifestation of the verbal abuse that gets thrown at him regularly online. 

I think I just read someone who thought it was appropriate to describe him as an “arrogant, deluded, smug, prick”. This is the language of hate that should have no place on a fan site like this, any more than throwing missiles at any club official should have any place at a football match. 

I have supported this club passionately and obsessively since I was 10 but I have to say that I despise the way some fans think now they have a right to behave and cannot feel part of that community.

[MrDuck]

31 minutes ago, Junxs said:

I've seen the "steadied the ship" comments again in the last few pages.. For me the ship is in exactly the same place as it was this time 2 years ago. 

Yeah but at least he stopped it sinking. Kinda stuck on a reef now though. Time for a new captain. And a new analogy.

 

[Keyblade]

55 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

The moronic act of throwing a cabbage at our manager is the physical manifestation of the verbal abuse that gets thrown at him regularly online. 

I think I just read someone who thought it was appropriate to describe him as an “arrogant, deluded, smug, prick”. This is the language of hate that should have no place on a fan site like this, any more than throwing missiles at any club official should have any place at a football match. 

I have supported this club passionately and obsessively since I was 10 but I have to say that I despise the way some fans think now they have a right to behave and cannot feel part of that community.

Such awful potty words such as arrogant, deluded and smug. What ever would our woefully undercompensated manager do to cope with such accurate but less than polite descriptions of him?

[Kiwivillan]

1 hour ago, MrDuck said:

Yeah but at least he stopped it sinking. Kinda stuck on a reef now though. Time for a new captain. And a new analogy.

 

I honestly think had RDM been given more time we'd be in a better position than now. Last week I checked 6 of the 11 players played most minutes this season were here before Bruce arrived (Hutton Chester Grealish Jedinak Kodjia Adomah)

Maybe I'm wrong but I emphatically did not want Bruce exactly for the reasons the now majority seem to have woken up to

Edited October 3, 2018 by Kiwivillan

[One For The Road]

4 hours ago, ciggiesnbeer said:

Well let me add some hope. Newcastle and Leeds were in far worse shape than us when they attracted Rafa & Bielsa. So they are out there. Hopefully our new owners are willing to get us a manager which matches the size of our club rather than another grab from the lucky dip "which British/Irish manager is available"  bag they have used for years.

They weren't under the same FFP issues as we are. That's the (Huge) difference. A new manager will want a big contract and a healthy budget. Something which we are not in a position to offer. 

[DaveAV1]

Again Steve Bruce has had a dig at the fans, saying that fans chants were, “unsavoury towards the players”. I wasn’t at the game, but from what I’ve heard the stick was largely directed at himself. It is never his fault, he’s rapidly turning into a Scouser. 

[Dave J]

6 hours ago, Davkaus said:

They had a stranglehold at 2-0 down (admittedly while about to take a penalty), 10 minutes in to the second half when we'd battered them for 45 minutes? Did they ****.

The red absolutely changed the game, and it was an indefensible decision.

I don't agree for one moment - one person changed that game and that was Daniel johnson - how on earth was he given the space that he was - he just pulled everything together for them and picked holes when needed to  - I would have bought Whelen on earlier and told him to have stood on Johnson 

[Don_Simon]

4 hours ago, ciggiesnbeer said:

Well let me add some hope. Newcastle and Leeds were in far worse shape than us when they attracted Rafa & Bielsa. So they are out there. Hopefully our new owners are willing to get us a manager which matches the size of our club rather than another grab from the lucky dip "which British/Irish manager is available"  bag they have used for years.

Were Newcastle not in the Premier League when they appointed The Spanish Waiter?

[DaveAV1]

24 minutes ago, One For The Road said:

They weren't under the same FFP issues as we are. That's the (Huge) difference. A new manager will want a big contract and a healthy budget. Something which we are not in a position to offer. 

I believe whilst not completely ignoring ffp, the new owners will have a plan which will deal with it better than it has been dealt with previously. If only by the fact that they will run the club properly. Do you think Christian Purslow came on board to run a hamstrung club that can only afford to pay him peanuts?

Steve Bruce is apparently on £3m a year, surely there is more than enough money to attract a decent manager. An ambitious manager, and not just one looking for a last big payday, would jump at the chance to manage Aston Villa and know that if he is successful he will be very handsomely rewarded. We’ve been overtaken by clubs with managers we’d never heard of before they waved at us on their way to the Premier League.

As for budget even with some ffp restrictions, we will still have a bigger budget than most in this league. It’s the management of the budget that has been woefully lacking at Villa Park for years. That simply has to improve or no matter what we do we will fail. Good management on and off the pitch is key to our future. I can’t believe that  new owners have come here to bumble along in the same noncoherent manner we have in the past. They clearly have money and more importantly understand money, we all must hope that they can bring fresh and progressive ideas with them too.