Steve Bruce

[Stevo985]

36 minutes ago, NoelVilla said:

So he have won a few games. Give him a transfer window and a preseason and that will stop. Still very happy that he isn't our manager anymore.

Transfer window and a pre season with us and we got to the playoff final. 

People’s memories of our time under Bruce seem to be a bit off. 

[Dave J]

49 minutes ago, LakotaDakota said:

Table since Bruce took over at Wednesday, He will get out of this league before we do.

If your so confident in his ability to do this - please may I ask you to enlighten me - why on earth did he look so clueless at achieving this feat  for us ?

[VillaJ100]

The pressure. I'd go as far to say the villa job is one of the hardest in world football atm. 

[villalad21]

People on here seem so desperate to see the man fail.

He gave his all for this club, it wasn't good enough. We reached a play off final under him and last season were the best time for me to be a Villa fan in a long long time.

Would not surprise me if Wednesday make it into the top 6 next season. I wish him good luck and hope he does well.

[Mark Albrighton]

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

3 Transfer windows and a pre season with us and we got to the playoff final. 

People’s memories of our time under Bruce seem to be a bit off. 

FTFY

Edited February 23, 2019 by Shropshire Lad

[villalad21]

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

Transfer window and a pre season with us and we got to the playoff final. 

People’s memories of our time under Bruce seem to be a bit off. 

So you think DS will manage to take us into a play off final or better within 3 transfer windows?

If you honestly feel reaching a play off final is poor, then i really feel for Smith.

Edited February 23, 2019 by villalad21

[rodders0223]

[Mark Albrighton]

40 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

So you think DS will manage to take us into a play off final or better within 3 transfer windows?

If you honestly feel reaching a play off final is poor, then i really feel for Smith.

Unless you’ve quoted him by accident, I don’t think Stevo is saying it was poor. 

Do I think it was poor? No, it wasn’t “poor”. It was...on par I would say. Bruce repeatedly underlined the expectations of the club, stated the objective of the season and he didn’t make it. He can try and talk about difficulties he faced in the most recent pre season and pretend that it was like that throughout his time here, but we know it wasn’t. He knows it wasn’t. He had time, he had financial backing, he had the support of the fans and it wasn’t enough. 

Will Smith reach the play off final with three transfer windows and a pre season? My gut feeling is no. However, what Smith inherited is different to what Bruce inherited. Unless we sell Jack, Smith is not going to be able to spend £12m on a striker and not play him, or £3m on a midfielder who is always injured, or another million or two on a right back who it’s deemed is too inexperienced to play at Villa and then not loan him out. He won’t be able to bring in a player like John Terry for 60 grand a week. Or an injured Bolasie on £80k a week. I could go on...

He is going to have to rebuild at least half the squad with, most likely, significantly less money. The circumstances are different. 

Smith may well prove to be shit, it’s not looking great at the moment, but to try and compare Bruce’s second season like it’s comparable to Smith’s (potential) second season is not realistic.

And before you say “well the squad is the same” as last season, is it? Ignoring the fact that Bruce couldn’t get the squad HE assembled to win on a regular basis this season, look at the starting eleven for Bruce’s standout result during his tenure, which I think most would say was the Wolves home game and compare it to whether those players have featured in the recent poor run of results under Smith.

Johnstone, Terry, Snodgrass, Grabban, all gone.

Chester, playing with an injury, now laid up with said injury. 

Jack. Injured.

So that’s five players from that starting xi who have not featured in this recent poor run, Chester only appearing in a limited capacity.

“What about the players who have featured?” I hear you cry.

Hutton, Taylor, Jedinak, Hourihane and Adomah. All of these players have been torn apart in their respective threads for their performances this season - both under Bruce and Smith, people are practically counting down the days until their contracts expire in a few cases.

So from that game, or indeed from a lot of last season, that’s pretty much six players who have not featured and the rest are players most on here DON’T want to feature. It is not the same side.

Bruce had his chance. I understand the route he went down, his reasoning behind it. It didn’t work. The vast majority of it was built on sand and the club is now having to clean up the mess from the mistakes of Bruce, RDM, Wyness and Xia.

[Stevo985]

1 hour ago, Shropshire Lad said:

FTFY

You’re right. But the implication of the OP was that Bruce will make them worse after a transfer window. 

I highly doubt that. 

[Stevo985]

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

So you think DS will manage to take us into a play off final or better within 3 transfer windows?

If you honestly feel reaching a play off final is poor, then i really feel for Smith.

I think you’ve misread my post. 

I don’t think reaching a playoff final was poor. 

I don’t think it was particularly great, as I think Bruce had the team and the resources to take us up. 

But I certainly don’t think it was poor. 

[Mark Albrighton]

9 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

You’re right. But the implication of the OP was that Bruce will make them worse after a transfer window. 

I highly doubt that. 

Yeah I know, I’m pissed and feeling particularly pedantic this evening.

[Zatman]

10 hours ago, Genie said:

Sheff Wednesday 3-0 up at HT, same points as Villa as it stands.

I suspect that like many, many players Villa have released for not being good enough Bruce will also be working above us in the football pyramid shortly.

Brilliant. I remember his shit signings, no faith in youth players and his 3 wins in 14 games. Villa have issues but Bruce has never been the answer 

[Zatman]

4 hours ago, villalad21 said:

People on here seem so desperate to see the man fail.

He gave his all for this club, it wasn't good enough. We reached a play off final under him and last season were the best time for me to be a Villa fan in a long long time.

Would not surprise me if Wednesday make it into the top 6 next season. I wish him good luck and hope he does well.

Ive seen your posts, you were one of first to want him out. Dont be a hypocrite

[Genie]

26 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Brilliant. I remember his shit signings, no faith in youth players and his 3 wins in 14 games. Villa have issues but Bruce has never been the answer 

It’s better than our last 14 games

I remember after years of a slow painful death he steadied the ship, then got us moving up the table and a goal away from taking our playoff final into extra time. Oh, and at the same time both of his parents died and he was getting dogs abuse from our fans.

He’s far from perfect, but I just don’t get why he gets such a hard time from a lot of Villa fans.

Now we’re back to sliding again. I have a feeling we’ll look back on his reign as the only “positive-ish” phase in a 15 year period. It would not surprise me at all if he didn’t have Wednesday “there or thereabouts” at the end of this season whilst we flounder around in the middle third of the table.

Edited February 24, 2019 by Genie

[Zatman]

32 minutes ago, Genie said:

It’s better than our last 14 games

I remember after years of a slow painful death he steadied the ship, then got us moving up the table and a goal away from taking our playoff final into extra time. Oh, and at the same time both of his parents died and he was getting dogs abuse from our fans.

He’s far from perfect, but I just don’t get why he gets such a hard time from a lot of Villa fans.

Now we’re back to sliding again. I have a feeling we’ll look back on his reign as the only “positive-ish” phase in a 15 year period. It would not surprise me at all if he didn’t have Wednesday “there or thereabouts” at the end of this season whilst we flounder around in the middle third of the table.

I remember he had the highest budget in the league, at time probably highest in Championship history.

3 12 million pound strikers, probably best English defender of his generation., multiple expensive loan signings not to mention Lansbury, Taylor, Whelan. Also probably best player to emerge from Villas academy. 

He gets a hard time because he is an asshole who has go at fans for free. Even his first game at Wednesday he had a go at Villa. He is a prick of highest order

[Tomaszk]

5 hours ago, Genie said:

Oh, and at the same time both of his parents died and he was getting dogs abuse from our fans.

Interesting dogs abuse thoughts. When was this?

[Dave J]

4 hours ago, Genie said:

It’s better than our last 14 games

I remember after years of a slow painful death he steadied the ship, then got us moving up the table and a goal away from taking our playoff final into extra time. Oh, and at the same time both of his parents died and he was getting dogs abuse from our fans.

He’s far from perfect, but I just don’t get why he gets such a hard time from a lot of Villa fans.

Now we’re back to sliding again. I have a feeling we’ll look back on his reign as the only “positive-ish” phase in a 15 year period. It would not surprise me at all if he didn’t have Wednesday “there or thereabouts” at the end of this season whilst we flounder around in the middle third of the table.

Not from me I'm afraid - two failed seasons in a row, boring football, a painful play off final - millions squandered on short term investments, his cheap shots at his own fans, his " you are lucky to have me " approach. No thanks I'm delighted he's gone.

DS may not be the answer - but neither was  Bruce. Imo 

[Dave J]

5 hours ago, Zatman said:

I remember he had the highest budget in the league, at time probably highest in Championship history.

3 12 million pound strikers, probably best English defender of his generation., multiple expensive loan signings not to mention Lansbury, Taylor, Whelan. Also probably best player to emerge from Villas academy. 

He gets a hard time because he is an asshole who has go at fans for free. Even his first game at Wednesday he had a go at Villa. He is a prick of highest order

Totally agree with you.

[DCJonah]

14 hours ago, Genie said:

It’s better than our last 14 games

I remember after years of a slow painful death he steadied the ship, then got us moving up the table and a goal away from taking our playoff final into extra time. Oh, and at the same time both of his parents died and he was getting dogs abuse from our fans.

He’s far from perfect, but I just don’t get why he gets such a hard time from a lot of Villa fans.

Now we’re back to sliding again. I have a feeling we’ll look back on his reign as the only “positive-ish” phase in a 15 year period. It would not surprise me at all if he didn’t have Wednesday “there or thereabouts” at the end of this season whilst we flounder around in the middle third of the table.

And he will have played a part in causing that. The man wasted our financial advantage as a relegated team and built nothing that could form the base for another push. After wasting that advantage we now find ourselves in the situation where we have to now replace numerous players and try again. That is shocking from him and dr fraud. 

I don't get how people can just shrug it off. 

[Genie]

I was really concerned (and posted about it at the time) just how many players the Dr was funding in consecutive windows. We’ll never know how much pressure Bruce was under to get up quick. For all we know he may have been against the high risk approach.