Steve Bruce

[rodders0223]

47 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

Anyone know what Bruce is reported to earn at Villa? Must be quite a bit otherwise he wouldn't have joined. If we have to somehow raise £40m surely getting a manager who is earning a chunk less than Bruce will be one of the first things we do.

Now is not the time to try and scrimp and save on the most important position at the club.

[pacbuddies]

55 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

So your boss makes a public announcement that the company needs big change and have been making wrong decisions for 10 years. He then thanks you for all your hard work. 

Would you?

A. Think great the boss thinks I’m working hard, let’s spend the weekend going round the car showrooms. 

Or

B. Think oh shit I’m a senior manager in a company that the boss thinks has been failing, better start checking the jobs columns. 

Answers on a post card...

In any normal company the answer would be 'B' but this is AVFC and the owners have an uncanny knack of saying positive and dreamy things and delivering failure.

[screwdriver]

Bruce must stay for me. He knows this division. Letting Bruce leave would be like Albion getting rid of Pulis.

We would be spectators of suicide.

[imavillan]

 

I Think he needs to be moved on. All of his short comings have been discussed to death in this thread. There are many excellent posts in here.

We lost games we should not have lost. This was because of the negative way in which the team was set up at the start of games. He made ridiculous substitutions, throwing 3 forwards on.

I do not know who the ''right'' man is but i would be more than happy for the club to take a chance on Dean Smith. He knows the division. He gets a tune out of 'average' players (we have better players than them, even after the loanees have gone back), his teams play football. It could not be much worse than sticking with what we have !!!!

[AntrimBlack]

40 minutes ago, screwdriver said:

Bruce must stay for me. He knows this division. Letting Bruce leave would be like Albion getting rid of Pulis.

We would be spectators of suicide.

Hasn't worked so far.

There is a reason why he has spent so much time in this division.

[sharkyvilla]

The thing with Bruce is that this last season has been the first in a long time where I can't really fault the effort of any of the squad, whether they're on loan experiended Premier League players, young players like Grealish, free transfers or players already in the squad.  That has to be in Bruce's favour, but perhaps negated by his relatively old-fashioned approach to style and tactics.  If he stays I think we will still be there or there abouts come play off time even with all the budget cuts, if he leaves we may get a manager that helps the youngsters bloom and we play great stuff, or we could end up with someone who the players don't respond to or actively dislike.  There's also the pressure from fans if we get off to a slow start which might destroy a manager not ready for it.  I think we'd be better off with Bruce staying but whether he wants to I'm not sure.

[jacketspuds]

1 hour ago, rodders0223 said:

Now is not the time to try and scrimp and save on the most important position at the club.

Agreed. But if Bruce isn't part of the long term plan it makes sense that this is one of the first areas reviewed before we look at shifting out some of the first team.

[sne]

59 minutes ago, screwdriver said:

Bruce must stay for me. He knows this division.

Yeah, I kinda see this as more of a negative thb.

Edited May 31, 2018 by sne

[AntrimBlack]

2 hours ago, Wainy316 said:

We can't afford to pay off his contract so he won't be sacked.

He is on a rolling one year contract, I think, so could be worse.

[BG_Villa_Fan]

I've never liked Bruce but the last thing I'd want to see is the club sacking him without a replacement lined-up and beginning that terrible manager interviewing process that Lerner was doing, only to end up with someone worse each time. 

If there's no money to spend, which seems to be the case, then I'd rather stick with Bruce for another season. He can at least help with his connections to get a good player on loan or two. Continuity is also a thing. 

[DaveAV1]

Wolves, Cardiff Andy Fulham all promoted. Two of them played a completely different style to the third. However what they had in common was a plan. Ok obviously Nuno and Jokanovic had an entirely different plan to Warnock but they all carried out their plan. The players and fans knew what the plan was and they were able to implement the plan in the majority of games. At times they may have tweeked it, but the basics were always there.

Over the years many styles of football have been successful, the common denominator is always a strong manager that can implement that plan and communicate it to the players. I’m not saying Steve Bruce isn’t a strong character, but I still don’t think he is certain what his plan is and that uncertainty transmits itself to the players. He sets us up to limit the damage the opposition can do, but doesn’t give enough thought to what we can do to the opposition. Damage limitation until we’re damaged and then throwing on 3 strikers, may constitute a plan, but it ain’t a very good one.

 

[rodders0223]

One more year for Steve, and I think we will be there or there abouts again, in the mix. He has pissed me of no end, and we have blew a great opportunity, but he has brought a togetherness, he is a safe pair of hands and sometimes better the Devil you know. I have called for his head but he has brought some pride back to this club, and while he is here we will be fighting and have a squad giving 100%.

I think you start dicking around with managers in this league whilst cutting costs, then you are in massive trouble.There is a whole lot of shite out there. Leeds have had about 2 dozen since they went down.

I wanted us to play free flowing football, I wanted us to play on the front foot and go at teams, I wanted a manager who would do that (not Bruce)....but the time for all that has gone now, and if you're on a budget and scraping then Bruce is probably our man.

Time to roll up the sleeves.

 

[DaveAV1]

7 minutes ago, BG_Villa_Fan said:

I've never liked Bruce but the last thing I'd want to see is the club sacking him without a replacement lined-up and beginning that terrible manager interviewing process that Lerner was doing, only to end up with someone worse each time. 

If there's no money to spend, which seems to be the case, then I'd rather stick with Bruce for another season. He can at least help with his connections to get a good player on loan or two. Continuity is also a thing. 

The problem with Steve Bruce’s connections, is that they are generally decent, experienced players on their way down and carrying with them big wage expectations. A manager who’s career is developing will have connections with players who’s careers are also developing. With the caveat that we need some experienced players, the basis of the squad next season needs to be players on their way up, not on their way down. We need someone to use and help developed the academy and knowledge of rising stars from outside the club.

I myself have no idea who this should be, but the club can’t stagnate on the basis of fear of the unknown. We should always be looking for possible managerial candidates, even if we were top of the league with Pepe in charge, he could leave, or step under a bus. To have no plan in place is criminal, particularly if the plan was hinging on a one game shootout. So hopefully we have a plan for all eventualities. 

[BG_Villa_Fan]

2 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

The problem with Steve Bruce’s connections, is that they are generally decent, experienced players on their way down and carrying with them big wage expectations. A manager who’s career is developing will have connections with players who’s careers are also developing. With the caveat that we need some experienced players, the basis of the squad next season needs to be players on their way up, not on their way down. We need someone to use and help developed the academy and knowledge of rising stars from outside the club.

This is exactly what Aston Villa would need from loanees. The likes of Grabban or Snodgrass, not Onomah or Tuanzebe. 

[Bazmonkey]

In light of the recent statement from Tony with club now having to cut its cloth accordingly I think whether he stays or goes we are going to be in this division for a few more years.

Bruce has done a good job in turning what was a losing mentality in the dressing room to a winning and more closer group of players within one win of the promise land.

However, i feel he has hit the glass ceiling with us as I don' think he has the tactical ability nor for finding the right players to give a run for going up a serious challenge.

Three more teams have come down with wanting to compete straight away.  Add in the teams that just missed out derby Boro milwall etc it' going to be tough.

If we were able to keep the same team and add maybe two or three players I would be inclined to give him one more year but we haven't.

The club faces big changes this summer I just don' have the faith in current set up to make it any better.

 I think a new manager new backroom staff and whatever wyness is is needed.

To be competitive we can't rely on individual talent to win games like this year.  It's be mentioned in this topic and others but need someone who can get a tune out the current players and find new players to fit...if it' a wolves way..great...if its a Cardiff way...who cares...its about results and going up.

I'e seem to many games this year when square pegs have been put in round roles...no tactics...basic mistakes...booting the ball nowhere..no composure...cant take a throw in...and the worse...setting up with defensive midfielder at home and from the start of the game allowing teams to come on...we have at times played some good stuff but a game is 90 mins not 20 or so.

These managers and backroom staff are out there...wolves found one and ended up getting in good players for about the same money as we have spent...young ...good players....not over 30's from premiership teams who have been in relegation battles...elmo...whelan...jedniak...we cant expect these players to play football when for years they havent...having said that Snodgrass and Terry were good additions and it showed in terry's leadership and Snodgrass' early form.

Fortunately I feel it' been a waste of two years and now with ffp it might be another another two years before we see the benefits of whatever we decide to do.

Tony has a big decision...either way come August I'll be behind who and whatever team goes out and we go again.

UTV

[striker]

54 minutes ago, BG_Villa_Fan said:

 

If there's no money to spend, which seems to be the case, then I'd rather stick with Bruce for another season. He can at least help with his connections to get a good player on loan or two. Continuity is also a thing. 

Continuity for the sake of it isn’t the answer when your manager has failed more than once to meet the remit.

Getting good players on loan is based on you being able to afford to pay a large chunk or all of their wages. That’s something the club can no longer afford negating both your reasons for keeping him.

The main question the board will have to consider is whether they feel Bruce can utilise the U23s more to build a side capable of being competitive in the Championship next season which is something he is not reknowned for?

Furthermore another worry for me under Bruce would be that since the affordability isn’t there to bring those better experienced pros in on loan he will revert to journey men pros way past their sell by date and labour the club with more players they can’t get rid off on 2-3 yr contracts.

Edited May 31, 2018 by striker

[villabromsgrove]

One thing that we've learned is that you cannot defend your way out of the Championship (although we came close), and we've learned that even with a very decent squad of experienced pros. Next season our squad will not be so experienced. Will Steve Bruce be prepared or able to change to a fitter, higher pressing, less defensive game in order to improve our promotion chances?

I see two alternatives here.  It may be that Dr T intends to allow Steve Bruce one more season to use the same methods to try and get us promoted, while at the same time cutting wages by trying to sell some existing players, and offering much smaller salaries to any incoming players. I don't think this will lead to promotion.

The second alternative is to sack Bruce with a year's salary as compensation, and employ a manager who may be able to get more out of the players who remain with us. I've read all the pro's and con's of appointing Dean Smith but on balance I think he could add key features to our squad. We need to be fitter (Brentford outworked us each time we played them). We need to press higher up the pitch, and we need to support our strikers in order to get regular goals from them. Smith would improve us in those areas, and might get a tune out of Hogan again. I don't think that DS is necessarily going to be our saviour, but I do think that he'll roll up his sleeves and get more out of 'team play' than has been the case this season. We still have some good players, certainly better than DS's current Brentford squad.

 

 

[hippo]

Whats happened to all the ITK's ?  - you need people who cut Brucies Daughters hair - those who seemingly bump into the villa hierarchy every week ? 

[vreitti]

1 hour ago, rodders0223 said:

One more year for Steve, and I think we will be there or there abouts again, in the mix. He has pissed me of no end, and we have blew a great opportunity, but he has brought a togetherness, he is a safe pair of hands and sometimes better the Devil you know. I have called for his head but he has brought some pride back to this club, and while he is here we will be fighting and have a squad giving 100%.

I think you start dicking around with managers in this league whilst cutting costs, then you are in massive trouble.There is a whole lot of shite out there. Leeds have had about 2 dozen since they went down.

I wanted us to play free flowing football, I wanted us to play on the front foot and go at teams, I wanted a manager who would do that (not Bruce)....but the time for all that has gone now, and if you're on a budget and scraping then Bruce is probably our man.

Time to roll up the sleeves.

 

What a load of cobblers. (no offence)

[vreitti]

47 minutes ago, BG_Villa_Fan said:

This is exactly what Aston Villa would need from loanees. The likes of Grabban or Snodgrass, not Onomah or Tuanzebe. 

Didn't we just try that approach? How did it go? Actually we tried both approaches I suppose, then again Grabban or Snodgrass isn't going to improve further, whereas Onomah or Tuanzebe might.