Steve Bruce

[Dave J]

On 23/07/2019 at 12:46, TRO said:

"Every cloud has a silver lining"..... is the perfect description of our recent fate.

Is it not beyond the realms of reasonability that we can't find some positivity to bestow on our previous manager.....Aston Villa fans are generally fair minded folk and call a spade a spade.

We have had some horror stories in the past, Steve Bruce for me, put back some respectability after 3 wins in a season of total and utter embarrassment and the laughing stock that became us.

Dean has much more to do, but his work so far does suggest he is far more rounded and progressive than Steve Bruce and has the humility to unite the fanbase, players and hierarchy alike....but i would wager Dean himself would have been grateful for a John McGinn and a Jack Grealish legacy.

For me, I see Dean as Phase 2 from SB being phase 1

The future is landscaped and sculptured from the past, the successes are carved out of the set backs, its all part of the rebuild....The cake is not all about the cherry on the top.

Looking forward to our future.

UTV

 

If Bruce had not been phase 1 we would have gone up sooner - imo.

To be honest TRO - the " he steadied the ship line " that is constantly peddled on here, does wear thin.

In no way shape or form was this his remit. His remit was promotion end of story.

He missed his targets  he failed, it does not matter what the margins were - he failed. 

He should have gone on the final whistle at Wembley imo 

[TRO]

36 minutes ago, Dave J said:

If Bruce had not been phase 1 we would have gone up sooner - imo.

To be honest TRO - the " he steadied the ship line " that is constantly peddled on here, does wear thin.

In no way shape or form was this his remit. His remit was promotion end of story.

He missed his targets  he failed, it does not matter what the margins were - he failed. 

He should have gone on the final whistle at Wembley imo 

The line is a fact Dave.....It wasn't mean't to describe the full expectation....just a bit of appreciation of where we was...and what bits of positive things he did.....like certain signings.

He failed to get us up another fact...no one is denying that either.

I think on the basis of just missing out, the owners wanted to see for themselves.

I am just a believer in incremental progress and I believe Dean is better equipped for phase 2 of our development.

I am not a clarion caller for steve Bruce, folk appreciate some of what he did with us or not.....their prerogotive.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2019 by TRO

[Tomaszk]

He didn't steady the ship. We'd have finished bottom 6 or 7 of Championship if he stayed last season. That's not steady.

Left the team bottom half having played nearly all the worst sides in the league, with very difficult fixtures ahead. It would have been ugly ugly stuff if he stayed.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

He didn't steady the ship. We'd have finished bottom 6 or 7 of Championship if he stayed last season. That's not steady.

Left the team bottom half having played nearly all the worst sides in the league, with very difficult fixtures ahead. It would have been ugly ugly stuff if he stayed.

I think you will find we are talking about when he initially took over....The bit your talking about is after the club recovered from the threat of administration and we lost half the team through loans and retirement and we couldn't pay the tax bill.....Not too different to now.

[Dave J]

6 hours ago, TRO said:

I think you will find we are talking about when he initially took over....The bit your talking about is after the club recovered from the threat of administration and we lost half the team through loans and retirement and we couldn't pay the tax bill.....Not too different to now.

TRO - if Bruce had met his objectives which he should have done given the tools that he had to work with.

None of the above would have been applicable imo 

[rodders0223]

Quote

Newcastle manager Steve Bruce says he will never be controversial club owner Mike Ashley's "yes man".

Bruce, 58, replaced Rafael Benitez as boss at St James' Park on 17 July but his appointment has been met by mixed feelings among supporters.

Ashley has drawn fierce criticism from fans, with a perceived lack of spending often a focus of frustration.

"I think you've known me long enough. I'm not going to be anybody's yes man," said boyhood Magpies fan Bruce.

"I'm too long in the tooth for that. I've heard it said that I'm a puppet or not in charge of transfers or what have you, but I can only report on how he's been with myself and he's been straight down the line in the conversations I've had.

"That can only be a good thing. I'm not his bag man or anything else. I will certainly be my own man, I always have."

Ashley faces increasing pressure from supporters to sell the club but Bruce hopes they will be appeased by the club-record £40m signing of Brazilian striker Joelinton.

"All I can ask is to be given a chance. Whoever was going to be sitting here would find it difficult with the support (Benitez) had from the fans - it was quite phenomenal. Unbelievable," he said.

"Whoever was sitting here would have big shoes to fill, but let me have a crack.

"I had the conversation and there was money to spend. It was all positive in that respect. There is proof already."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49109367

He's getting tetchy already.

[GarethRDR]

15 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

"I've heard it said that I'm a puppet"

You've misheard an "m" for a "p" there, Steve.

[TRO]

5 hours ago, Dave J said:

TRO - if Bruce had met his objectives which he should have done given the tools that he had to work with.

None of the above would have been applicable imo 

We'll leave it there Dave.

Many folk just miss out on their objectives but aspects of their reign can still be appreciated.

The irony is so far it looks like his failure to get us promoted was a "silver lining"... so I am not sure what we are all debating.

If he makes a complete success out Newcastle, you won't hear a peep out of me. they don't interest me Nd it will have no bearing, what he did with us.

I am commenting on what he did with us, not the character of the man.I don't know him personally, so I don't feel in a position to comment on that....just my take.

While I mention the good bits of what he done, Terry, MCGinn, Jacks emergence, 24 wins....I am also aware of the bad bits too....poor style of football, Centre Backs, failure to get promotion....The attack on a small section of the fans was regretable....all the ones I speak to are glad he's gone, but recognise, he did some decent things.

but just want to concentrate on Dean now.

[Keyblade]

4 hours ago, rodders0223 said:

He's getting tetchy already.

[Sam-AVFC]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

The irony is so far it looks like his failure to get us promoted was a "silver lining"... so I am not sure what we are all debating.

Because how it happened to work out and what hindsight can tell us doesn't change whether or not he hit his targets for the season.

4 hours ago, TRO said:

I am commenting on what he did with us, not the character of the man.I don't know him personally, so I don't feel in a position to comment on that....just my take.

I appreciate you're trying to give the guy a fair defence, but how many football fans do know managers personally? Can we only judge managers if they know them personally or is it fair to judge them on the way they come across in their very public job?

In my view it wouldn't just be impossible, but an absolute nonsense to judge him on his personal life. He wasn't hired to be a good friend or (as I've heard from a few journalists) his ability to quickly return calls, he was hired to get us back to the Premier League.

[TRO]

3 hours ago, Sam-AVFC said:

Because how it happened to work out and what hindsight can tell us doesn't change whether or not he hit his targets for the season.

I appreciate you're trying to give the guy a fair defence, but how many football fans do know managers personally? Can we only judge managers if they know them personally or is it fair to judge them on the way they come across in their very public job?

In my view it wouldn't just be impossible, but an absolute nonsense to judge him on his personal life. He wasn't hired to be a good friend or (as I've heard from a few journalists) his ability to quickly return calls, he was hired to get us back to the Premier League.

No He wasn't hired to be a good friend.....but equally I never called him out as frustrated as I was with his style of Football.....so he didn't respond with his defence ....against Tro and specifically rubbished me....so why should I think just because I am a Villa fan think he aimed his response against me.....as they say "if the cap fits wear it"

He responded to those that were calling him out and throwing cabbages, not the whole fan base, so don't try and build a defence for that and make out he disrespected the whole fan base, because that is wrong........and I would wager that if a certain section did it against Dean Smith ( god forbid) they would get the same response... and right he would be......certain sections of the fan base do not represent the whole, its their opinion and they are entitled to it, like we are to our opinion.

Whatever your thoughts ,he was our football manager, at the time.

I am glad Theresa May has gone, but I didn't react in a disrespectful way to her when she was in power...as tempted as I was.

Edited July 25, 2019 by TRO

[Rob182]

I realised earlier that this troll face looks like Bruce

You can almost hear him..... “Mother of god. FIVE choices of kebab meat”

[Vive_La_Villa]

Felt like a bit of Bruce bashing on a Friday afternoon but it’s all quiet in here.

[rodders0223]

Bruce is a prick.

[Keyblade]

When thinking about how Bruce steadied the ship so to speak, it makes me wonder if did people really thought we were under threat of dropping through the leagues like Wolves or Sunderland under RDM. Small sample size of 11 games notwithstanding, we did play decent football and were scoring goals...we just couldn't close out games.

It was right for RDM to get sacked when he did, it just wasn't good enough as we had serious promotion aspirations...but then that same season we finished 13th which is about where I would have put us finishing if RDM saw out the season. It's a weird one.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, Keyblade said:

When thinking about how Bruce steadied the ship so to speak, it makes me wonder if did people really thought we were under threat of dropping through the leagues like Wolves or Sunderland under RDM. Small sample size of 11 games notwithstanding, we did play decent football and were scoring goals...we just couldn't close out games.

It was right for RDM to get sacked when he did, it just wasn't good enough as we had serious promotion aspirations...but then that same season we finished 13th which is about where I would have put us finishing if RDM saw out the season. It's a weird one.

Did you think we could ever, ever, ever win 3 games in a season?.....No, quite an amazing shameful statistic isn't it?

"Did people really think we could drop through the leagues".....In hindsight it looks daft doesn't it?......just like 3 bloody wins....so yeah! I was grateful he stopped it and not ashamed to admit it.

all teams are capable of anything.

[kurtsimonw]

3 hours ago, Keyblade said:

When thinking about how Bruce steadied the ship so to speak, it makes me wonder if did people really thought we were under threat of dropping through the leagues like Wolves or Sunderland under RDM. Small sample size of 11 games notwithstanding, we did play decent football and were scoring goals...we just couldn't close out games.

It was right for RDM to get sacked when he did, it just wasn't good enough as we had serious promotion aspirations...but then that same season we finished 13th which is about where I would have put us finishing if RDM saw out the season. It's a weird one.

It's a terrifying thought to feel we were playing well and won just the 1 game though, that being against by far the worst side in the league. RDM was just so tactically naive, it was hard to see us beating anyone.

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, kurtsimonw said:

It's a terrifying thought to feel we were playing well and won just the 1 game though, that being against by far the worst side in the league. RDM was just so tactically naive, it was hard to see us beating anyone.

I see your point but I think he only lost 2 games. Was a lot of late equalisers. The Huddersfield the most comical

[kurtsimonw]

4 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I see your point but I think he only lost 2 games. Was a lot of late equalisers. The Huddersfield the most comical

Once is fine, but when it seems to happen every week, it's not bad luck.

Wednesday to lose, Barnsley, Brentford, Huddersfield equalisers.. I feel like there was more.

[Zatman]

4 minutes ago, kurtsimonw said:

Once is fine, but when it seems to happen every week, it's not bad luck.

Wednesday to lose, Barnsley, Brentford, Huddersfield equalisers.. I feel like there was more.

Yep.i am sure was a game we were 2 up and was brought back to 2-2