Steve Bruce

[TRO]

9 minutes ago, sne said:

Has there ever been an example where a manager when asked a direct question about his predecessor by a journalist has answered anything except polite platitudes?

I'm sure there has been but 99 times out of 100 it's nice guy, difficult situation, best of luck and so on.

True.....but in this case that never happened.....No question was asked.

Check the archives, play back the reels.....Dean Smith after the final unannounced and unprompted declared that the 2 goal scorers were Steve Bruce signings.....I think he said it for a reason, just my suspicion.

Dean is a proper guy......maybe we can all learn something from him.

Edited November 28, 2019 by TRO

[sne]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

True.....but in this case that never happened.....No question was asked.

Check the archives, play back the reels.....Dean Smith after the final unannounced and unprompted declared that the 2 goal scorers were Steve Bruce signings.....I think he said it for a reason, just my suspicion.

Dean is a proper guy......maybe we can all learn something from him.

He's been asked about Bruce from reporters tons of times, before Wednesday last year especially. and again before this latest game.

He's been nothing but courteous each time. Smith is adult enough to focus on what's important and certainly would not start some petty beef against Bruce or any other manager.

I don't think he cares either way about Bruce, but he's certainly not going to start something in his role as Villa manager.

What managers say in interviews is media friendly fluff for the most parts.

Edited November 28, 2019 by sne

[villalad21]

I wouldn't go as far. DS didn't perform a miracle.

We finished 5th by the way, not in the top 2.

Bruce massively under performed in his last season with the players he had available.

Any set of fans in the Championship would admit we had one of the best squads in the league.

The January window was the deciding factor though. Mings and Hause were crucial signings.

DS still did well. Would give him a B+

Edited November 28, 2019 by villalad21

[useless]

On the February 22nd we were on forty-four points, nine points off the play-offs and Bristol City who were in sixth place on fifty-three points had two games in hand, Middlesbrough who were in fifth also had a game in hand. We then went on a ten game winning run to not only qualify for the play-offs but also keep the momentum to actually win them, I'd find it hard to disagree with anyone who'd call that miraculous. Also if wasn't for the injuries to Grealish and Tuanzebe I think we would have finished second in the league, our form since Smith came in was better than Leeds and as good as Sheffield Uniteds.

Edited November 28, 2019 by useless

[Pelle]

1 hour ago, sne said:

Has there ever been an example where a manager when asked a direct question about his predecessor by a journalist has answered anything except polite platitudes?

I'm sure there has been but 99 times out of 100 it's nice guy, difficult situation, best of luck and so on.

True. Untill things go wrong. Then you can hear a lot about how bad the squad was trained/unbalanced etc, etc, by the former manager. But in this case I think Smith is genuine in his praise. He seems genuine. I'm neither pro nor against Bruce. He was here, did a decent job but failed in doing what we wanted him to do. And I doubt we'd be promoted today of we'd kept him. But he was not a catastrophy either, IMO.

[sne]

Just now, Pelle said:

True. Untill things go wrong. Then you can hear a lot about how bad the squad was trained/unbalanced etc, etc, by the former manager. But in this case I think Smith is genuine in his praise. He seems genuine. I'm neither pro nor against Bruce. He was here, did a decent job but failed in doing what we wanted him to do. And I doubt we'd be promoted today of we'd kept him. But he was not a catastrophy either, IMO.

Yup!

But back to the start of this recent wrangle of words I think like another poster said this is because Smith got us promoted.

Had he not we would be in dire straits thanks to Lerner, Xia, Wyness, RDM and Bruce.

We'd been screwed and it would very much been a disaster.

[Hornso]

52 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

I wouldn't go as far. DS didn't perform a miracle.

Aston Villa Football Club won 10 games in a row. That in itself is a miracle.

[villalad21]

1 minute ago, Hornso said:

Aston Villa Football Club won 10 games in a row. That in itself is a miracle.

No. It's very impressive.

Leicester winning the league is a miracle.

[Hornso]

3 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

No. It's very impressive.

Leicester winning the league is a miracle.

Well it hadn't happened in 145 years and I double we'll ever see it again in my lifetime. I think that deserves a little bit more than "very impressive".

Anyway, moving away from semantics and back to the argument that will never die...  For mine Bruce deserves credit for stabilising the club from sliding towards League 1 and helping in rebuild the toxic club culture, but also deserves criticism for the bizarre defensive options he left the club with and subsequently playing James Chester into the ground. I couldn't be happier with the fact he's no longer associated with our club and it's an added bonus we get to face him each season as I believe it gives us a very good chance of racking up 6 points each time we do.

[Keyblade]

1 hour ago, useless said:

On the February 22nd we were on forty-four points, nine points off the play-offs and Bristol City who were in sixth place on fifty-three points had two games in hand, Middlesbrough who were in fifth also had a game in hand. We then went on a ten game winning run to not only qualify for the play-offs but also keep the momentum to actually win them, I'd find it hard to disagree with anyone who'd call that miraculous. Also if wasn't for the injuries to Grealish and Tuanzebe I think we would have finished second in the league, our form since Smith came in was better than Leeds and as good as Sheffield Uniteds.

Not to mention the crucial defensive signings he made to plug the massive holes left by Bruce who was playing Jedinak at CB and Tuanzebe at RB.

After that first run of Derby - WBA, I was convinced we were going to finish in the top 2 under Smith. We really underestimated the importance of Jack. With Jack fit I'm sure we'd have seriously challenge for top 2.

[bannedfromHandV]

It was all a means to an end.

Bruce was the means and Smith is the end.

I can't see why a line can't just be drawn under that instead of the monthly cries of him being the antichrist.

[Zatman]

13 hours ago, sne said:

Has there ever been an example where a manager when asked a direct question about his predecessor by a journalist has answered anything except polite platitudes?

I'm sure there has been but 99 times out of 100 it's nice guy, difficult situation, best of luck and so on.

Well known pacifist Paolo Di Canio slaughtered MON when he took Sunderland job

A rare exception

[villa4europe]

22 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

I can't see why a line can't just be drawn under that instead of the monthly cries of him being the antichrist.

because he still has a job in top flight football, still has his bollocks tickled by his chums in the media (mainly the likes of Richard "you're lucky to have him" keys)

to me he represents a much larger problem within English football and especially our shite media

I'll stop being bothered by him when he joins the likes of Pardew, pulis, hughes, fat sam etc in obscurity, and hopefully not a talksport gobshite pissing me off even more

[TRO]

12 hours ago, sne said:

He's been asked about Bruce from reporters tons of times, before Wednesday last year especially. and again before this latest game.

He's been nothing but courteous each time. Smith is adult enough to focus on what's important and certainly would not start some petty beef against Bruce or any other manager.

I don't think he cares either way about Bruce, but he's certainly not going to start something in his role as Villa manager.

What managers say in interviews is media friendly fluff for the most parts.

I think you are missing the point.that is exactly what i am saying in your second paragraph.

I agree Dean is courteous.....and to support that....the reference to Bruces signings scoring after the wembley final was not prompted by a jounalist.....He just offered the information, which for me supports the point ,he has respect for Bruce.

Edited November 29, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

18 hours ago, Pelle said:

True. Untill things go wrong. Then you can hear a lot about how bad the squad was trained/unbalanced etc, etc, by the former manager. But in this case I think Smith is genuine in his praise. He seems genuine. I'm neither pro nor against Bruce. He was here, did a decent job but failed in doing what we wanted him to do. And I doubt we'd be promoted today of we'd kept him. But he was not a catastrophy either, IMO.

Exactly...my position.

Edited November 29, 2019 by TRO

[bannedfromHandV]

12 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

because he still has a job in top flight football, still has his bollocks tickled by his chums in the media (mainly the likes of Richard "you're lucky to have him" keys)

to me he represents a much larger problem within English football and especially our shite media

I'll stop being bothered by him when he joins the likes of Pardew, pulis, hughes, fat sam etc in obscurity, and hopefully not a talksport gobshite pissing me off even more

Really think you need to get over it man..........sounds a bit, obsessive.

[sne]

6 minutes ago, TRO said:

I think you are missing the point.

I agree Dean is courteous.....and to support that....the reference to Bruces signings scoring after the wembley final was not prompted by a jounalist.....He just offered the information, which for me supports the point he has respect for Bruce.

OK

I think you are reading more into that than is actually there but I'm sure Smith has respect for Bruce.

I also think what Smith said as a Villa fan watching us play under Bruce is quite a bit different from what he'd say to the media after being appointed manager for us.

[TRO]

6 minutes ago, sne said:

OK

I think you are reading more into that than is actually there but I'm sure Smith has respect for Bruce.

I also think what Smith said as a Villa fan watching us play under Bruce is quite a bit different from what he'd say to the media after being appointed manager for us.

Oh! I agree......I think he would have been as peed off as us with our style under Bruce.

but we are crossing borders here.

I am saying, he wasn't bad at everything like some fans are insisting, he bought some good players in....I think he steadied us, when some managers, wouldn't have touched us.....its was a progressive move, but took us as far as he could.

One manager has not landed Man City where they are....its been incremental progress

His last season was a car crash.....but the new administration, plus Dean....put us on the track, we wanted to be on.

[TRO]

12 hours ago, villalad21 said:

I wouldn't go as far. DS didn't perform a miracle.

We finished 5th by the way, not in the top 2.

Bruce massively under performed in his last season with the players he had available.

Any set of fans in the Championship would admit we had one of the best squads in the league.

The January window was the deciding factor though. Mings and Hause were crucial signings.

DS still did well. Would give him a B+

How many are in the current team?

I think we over estimated how good the squad was, then.

However, I agree with the Mings claim......I like hause too.

Edited November 29, 2019 by TRO

[sne]

2 minutes ago, TRO said:

Oh! I agree......I think he would have been as peed off as us with our style under Bruce.

but we are crossing borders here.

I am saying, he wasn't bad at everything like some fans are insisting, he bought some good players in....I think he steadied us, when some managers, wouldn't have touched us.....its was a progressive move, but took us as far as he could.

One manager has not landed Man City where they are....its been incremental progress

His last season was a car crash.....but the new administration, plus Dean....put us on the track, we wanted to be on.

Yeah of course it wasn't all bad, would be silly to claim that. And even the things that were bad wasn't all his fault. Lerner, Xia, Wyness, RDM "helped" a lot with that.

Sadly for Bruce and us he didn't quite know how to use some of the good players he brought in and while he came close in season 2 it would have been a disaster if not for Smith getting us promoted last season.

We would have been broke in the Championship, forced to sell Grealish and/or Mcginn, not been able to sign Mings or any other of our players and.

We would have been so screwed. I just can't look past that when looking at Bruce's time here.

And then there is his well rehearsed media persona where he always blames individual errors, isolated situations and bad luck while seldom addressing the underlaying issues that led to those situations.