Steve Bruce

[Zatman]

43 minutes ago, Genie said:

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. 

He could have came out and said I dont want to sign these over the hill players and short term loans and chased after younger players

He didnt and he did similar at his other clubs

[Tomaszk]

5 hours ago, DCJonah said:

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. 

Absolutely.

Many Villa fans are just broken though. Don't blame them, near on 10 years solid of bad regression. Desperate for anything that isn't more losses.

I think because he delivered some wins it's looked at as though he did a good job when he was just as bad, if not worse than any of the Lambert/McLeish/Houllier crew. They actually had to compete with Premier League sides, not Burton and Rotherham, and all survived. It took Tim and Micah Richards to finally relegate us.

Bruce's Villa Championship side that he couldn't get playing anything resembling attractive football was probably better personnel-wise than many of our sides in the last 6/7 years.

[Keyblade]

Weirdest part of these last few pages are the people saying he'll get Wednesday promoted. He couldn't do it at Villa with the biggest budget probably in Championship history, what could make you think he'd do it at Sheffield Wednesday? Bizarre revenge fantasy.

Edited February 25, 2019 by Keyblade

[Stevo985]

5 hours ago, Keyblade said:

Weirdest part of these last few pages are the people saying he'll get Wednesday promoted. He couldn't do it at Villa with the biggest budget probably in Championship history, what could make you think he'd do it at Sheffield Wednesday? Bizarre revenge fantasy.

I don't think he WILL get them promoted.

But I wouldn't be very surprised if he did.

He's actually a decent manager despite the accepted VT narrative that he's a retarded dinosaur who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.

 

If you take the Bruce hatred and hyperbole out of the equation he's still a good manager at this level, despite his failure with us.

[sne]

41 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I don't think he WILL get them promoted.

But I wouldn't be very surprised if he did.

He's actually a decent manager despite the accepted VT narrative that he's a retarded dinosaur who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.

 

If you take the Bruce hatred and hyperbole out of the equation he's still a good manager at this level, despite his failure with us.

Calling it hatred or claiming people think him retarded is a bit hyperbole too right?

Sure you can find the odd post where someone used the word hate in the heat of the moment, but it's  not really hate is it.

He's still a decent manager at Championship level, but I doubt that is enough to get up nowadays. The competition is harder now and there is much more money thrown around by more clubs.

If he did manage to get Shef W up he'd definitely regain some of the respect I lost for him while he was here. 

[Stevo985]

Just now, sne said:

Calling it hatred or claiming people think him retarded is a bit hyperbole too right?

Yes on the retarded bit. That was deliberate exaggeration. I don't actually think that anyone else thinks Steve Bruce is retarded, just for clarification. The point was I think people make out he is an utterly useless football manager. When he really isn't, despite his failings with us.

I don't think hatred is hyperbole though. You get hilariously slated when you say it, but there are clearly posters who hate Steve Bruce. 

I don't know why they deny it. I hate plenty of people involved in football and openly admit it.

[Zatman]

I hate Steve Bruce not on a personal level but on a football level though his kids seem like pricks. 

I never liked him before he got job here as I said at start of thread. Gave him a chance but he never won me over especially his stupid sly digs at fans. Not to mention the crap he has left us in

[bannedfromHandV]

8 hours ago, Keyblade said:

Weirdest part of these last few pages are the people saying he'll get Wednesday promoted. He couldn't do it at Villa with the biggest budget probably in Championship history, what could make you think he'd do it at Sheffield Wednesday? Bizarre revenge fantasy.

Oooooo wouldn't you just love it if SB got Wednesday promoted.

I'd pay to be a fly on the wall for that moment.

[Keyblade]

33 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Oooooo wouldn't you just love it if SB got Wednesday promoted.

I'd pay to be a fly on the wall for that moment.

?

I'm not a Wednesday fan nor do I care about Steve Bruce now that he's not at our club anymore. If he managed to get promoted with them that would be some achievement and would mean there is something seriously wrong at our club. I seriously doubt it, but I'm sure you'll be following closely hoping he pulls it off.

[bannedfromHandV]

1 minute ago, Keyblade said:

?

I'm not a Wednesday fan nor do I care about Steve Bruce now that he's not at our club anymore. If he managed to get promoted with them that would be some achievement and would mean there is something seriously wrong at our club. I seriously doubt it, but I'm sure you'll be following closely hoping he pulls it off.

You talk as if there isn't or hasn't been for a long long time.

We have been rotting since 2010/2011.

[TRO]

5 hours ago, sne said:

Calling it hatred or claiming people think him retarded is a bit hyperbole too right?

Sure you can find the odd post where someone used the word hate in the heat of the moment, but it's  not really hate is it.

He's still a decent manager at Championship level, but I doubt that is enough to get up nowadays. The competition is harder now and there is much more money thrown around by more clubs.

If he did manage to get Shef W up he'd definitely regain some of the respect I lost for him while he was here. 

The thing is ..Norwich and Sheff Utd....Haven't spent much money.

They just buy players they can get something out of.....David McGoldrick and Pukki were free transfers.....We spend on Hogan, Kodjia and McCormack, best part of 40 million.....and struggle to get a goal out of them, suffice to say 2 have been shipped out.

Money only counts when you can spend it right......In the main we have shown over the years, we can't.

I would suspect, every club above us has spent less, with the odd exception, perhaps Albion.

[sne]

38 minutes ago, TRO said:

The thing is ..Norwich and Sheff Utd....Haven't spent much money.

They just buy players they can get something out of.....David McGoldrick and Pukki were free transfers.....We spend on Hogan, Kodjia and McCormack, best part of 40 million.....and struggle to get a goal out of them, suffice to say 2 have been shipped out.

Money only counts when you can spend it right......In the main we have shown over the years, we can't.

I would suspect, every club above us has spent less, with the odd exception, perhaps Albion.

Well yeah, obviously.

But it also means you can attract better managers like Bielsa or Santo or keeps someone like Rafa if you go down.

[Keyblade]

3 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

You talk as if there isn't or hasn't been for a long long time.

We have been rotting since 2010/2011.

We have, but we've managed to stop the rot or at least most of it by 2017, which Bruce played a major role in credit to him. But if he couldn't get promoted with 17/18 Aston Villa I would be amazed if he could do it anywhere else, much less with Wednesday. 

[TRO]

17 minutes ago, sne said:

Well yeah, obviously.

But it also means you can attract better managers like Bielsa or Santo or keeps someone like Rafa if you go down.

Point Taken.

But they will want money at some point....either immediately or later.

Whether it turns out to be the right decision to change managers or not....its been done and we have to focus on the here and now.

None of us have crystal balls and the way the season started and ultimately the Preston game, the writing was on the wall.

These guys are battle hardened....The money is the attraction, I would guess that SB has forgotten all about Aston Villa, Like he did when he left the Blues....its just a job to them and a way of living a very nice lifestyle.

Edited February 25, 2019 by TRO

[bannedfromHandV]

6 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

We have, but we've managed to stop the rot or at least most of it by 2017, which Bruce played a major role in credit to him. But if he couldn't get promoted with 17/18 Aston Villa I would be amazed if he could do it anywhere else, much less with Wednesday. 

But it was papering over cracks that became evident in the summer at boardroom level, not just 'cracks' but fissures that would have swallowed us whole if major action hadn't been taken.

It's why I take offence when the SB bashing goes on. So far as I can tell, he's the only Manager we've had in nigh on 10 years who's come close to getting us back to where we should be (and I'm not talking about league position, I'm talking about culture, about winning games, about having players that you can actually look up to and admire).

But anyway, old news now.

Hopefully we can all move on from it.

[TRO]

FWIW....I still don't think the team was right last season....despite 24 wins.

• The 2 full backs were not quite good enough IMO

BUT....If we had of had

• Mings/McGinn & Abraham and I think we would have gone up.

We seem to be able to get some good players.....but not a good team.

Edited February 25, 2019 by TRO

[Keyblade]

3 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

But it was papering over cracks that became evident in the summer at boardroom level, not just 'cracks' but fissures that would have swallowed us whole if major action hadn't been taken.

It's why I take offence when the SB bashing goes on. So far as I can tell, he's the only Manager we've had in nigh on 10 years who's come close to getting us back to where we should be (and I'm not talking about league position, I'm talking about culture, about winning games, about having players that you can actually look up to and admire).

But anyway, old news now.

Hopefully we can all move on from it.

Yeah but there was enough paper there at the time for the cracks to be virtually invisible. If we got promoted, the cracks would start to show and if we didn't the fissure was likely to swallow us whole. The latter almost happened, and it's almost a blessing that it did as it helped us rid ourselves of Xia, but the ingredients were there for promotion, cracks or no cracks.

It was great while it lasted but I and many others could see from a mile away that we wouldn't get promoted with him which was our holy grail. I think that's where we differ, you were content with being there or thereabouts as it was a mile away from what we've had to deal with. For me, for all the resources we expended...there or thereabouts just wasn't good enough, as enjoyable a season as it was. He was hired for one purpose and he failed it, and paid the price. I have no ill feelings towards him, despite the swipes that he took at the fans. We've parted ways and I wish him success with Wednesday and beyond. But I'm glad we're moving away from the model that made us hire him in the first place and almost bankrupted us, even though I would have liked us to get promoted sooner. This way is better for the future of the club and I'm happy to get behind it.

[Stevo985]

I do think the disruption in the summer, and the effect that had on being able to sign players, is often overlooked.

That doesn't excuse Bruce from some of his weirder decisions like sending Elphick on loan when we had no other centrebacks (at that point), or generally the state of the defence he left.

But I do think it's sometimes painted out that Bruce had free rein in the summer when in reality there was a large portion of it where we literally couldn't sign anyone.

[bannedfromHandV]

11 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

Yeah but there was enough paper there at the time for the cracks to be virtually invisible. If we got promoted, the cracks would start to show and if we didn't the fissure was likely to swallow us whole. The latter almost happened, and it's almost a blessing that it did as it helped us rid ourselves of Xia, but the ingredients were there for promotion, cracks or no cracks.

It was great while it lasted but I and many others could see from a mile away that we wouldn't get promoted with him which was our holy grail. I think that's where we differ, you were content with being there or thereabouts as it was a mile away from what we've had to deal with. For me, for all the resources we expended...there or thereabouts just wasn't good enough, as enjoyable a season as it was. He was hired for one purpose and he failed it, and paid the price. I have no ill feelings towards him, despite the swipes that he took at the fans. We've parted ways and I wish him success with Wednesday and beyond. But I'm glad we're moving away from the model that made us hire him in the first place and almost bankrupted us, even though I would have liked us to get promoted sooner. This way is better for the future of the club and I'm happy to get behind it.

Really? Even when we were challenging for it all season.

Even at the full time whistle in VP after the second playoff semi final?

Before kick off outside Wembley?

At all those points you were certain that SB could not get us promoted? Or are you combining your cynicism with the beauty of hindsight?

[Keyblade]

Just now, bannedfromHandV said:

Really? Even when we were challenging for it all season.

Even at the full time whistle in VP after the second playoff semi final?

Before kick off outside Wembley?

At all those points you were certain that SB could not get us promoted? Or are you combining your cynicism with the beauty of hindsight?

Yup.

I knew we would fall short. After that 7 game winning run I tried to convince myself we turned a corner but deep down I knew.

Were you surprised at our performance in the final? I wasn't. That's how we played in 90% of games against the top 10. Wolves and Cardiff at home are the only games against the top teams I can remember where we didn't play for a draw, and even those were followed by losses iirc. I knew if we didn't get promoted automatically we were as good as done. And I knew we didn't have the consistency to get top 2.