Steve Bruce

[May-Z]

15 minutes ago, a-k said:

Would you like to try our new Vegan kebab, Sir?

[Jono62]

Steve Bruce everyday

 

[Wainy316]

4 hours ago, Xela said:

The best thing he did was bring in John Terry. 

Or McGinn

[rjw63]

Has he gone yet?

Or still rolling up wor sleeves and dusting worselves doon?

[villa4europe]

1 hour ago, a-k said:

"we're out of batter bits" 

[Jono62]

1 hour ago, a-k said:

Your book, Striker is an international best seller.

[MaVilla]

i think Maximin will save him.

Once ASM gets fit and back in the first team i honestly think they will have enough to be reasonably safe. (ie: 2 team are already down tbh, pretty sure with maximin they can avoid that last slot).

[villa4europe]

The media, no fans being there, 3 shitter teams and Ashley not caring past his bottom line will save him

There will be a point in time in his contract where sacking him will become cheaper than keeping him, that's when he should be worried

[bannedfromHandV]

22 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

Or McGinn

Terry was the one, I’ve said it before but I’m convinced he’s a been huge part of how we’ve been able to go from total horror show to where we are now. 
 

He appears to me to have helped set the tone of what’s expected at Aston Villa, he led by example on the pitch for a season and since coming back with Smith I’m convinced he’s remained a big figure in the ethos and overall culture of the club.

And the fact is that without Bruce I’m not sure we’d have signed Terry.

[HanoiVillan]

20 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Terry was the one, I’ve said it before but I’m convinced he’s a been huge part of how we’ve been able to go from total horror show to where we are now. 
 

He appears to me to have helped set the tone of what’s expected at Aston Villa, he led by example on the pitch for a season and since coming back with Smith I’m convinced he’s remained a big figure in the ethos and overall culture of the club.

And the fact is that without Bruce I’m not sure we’d have signed Terry.

I think we definitely wouldn't - I seem to recall that Bruce persuaded him on the golf course, or so I recall, and I also seem to recall that others, including that rabble down the road, were about to offer him an absolutely ludicrous amount of money instead.

[Hornso]

Time to dust off the ol' typewriter Steve...please.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Hornso

[tomav84]

33 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I think we definitely wouldn't - I seem to recall that Bruce persuaded him on the golf course, or so I recall, and I also seem to recall that others, including that rabble down the road, were about to offer him an absolutely ludicrous amount of money instead.

Small heath offered him 100k...twice what we paid him

Bruce was definitely responsible for bringing in JT

[Mark Albrighton]

There’s some good signings during his time. Terry, Elmo, Hourihane, McGinn, Whelan. I think most would say they were good permanent signings.

Thor, Taylor maybe in the the “ok” bracket. 

Lansbury, Bree, Hogan, Bedeau, Moreira, Samba probably considered to be the duds. Nyland too but he did have his moments I guess.

The loan deals, probably most were good. Snodgrass, Tammy, Axel, El Ghazi, Grabban, Johnstone, all good to varying degrees, the first four listed certainly.

Onomah and Bolasie not so much.

 

That’s a reasonable hit rate I think. It’s just all the bollocks about not being backed, even in the summer of despair he could bring in seven new players including two keepers while letting the keeper who would prove to be instrumental to promotion leave on loan.

[Keyblade]

1 hour ago, Mark Albrighton said:

There’s some good signings during his time. Terry, Elmo, Hourihane, McGinn, Whelan. I think most would say they were good permanent signings.

Thor, Taylor maybe in the the “ok” bracket. 

Lansbury, Bree, Hogan, Bedeau, Moreira, Samba probably considered to be the duds. Nyland too but he did have his moments I guess.

The loan deals, probably most were good. Snodgrass, Tammy, Axel, El Ghazi, Grabban, Johnstone, all good to varying degrees, the first four listed certainly.

Onomah and Bolasie not so much.

 

That’s a reasonable hit rate I think. It’s just all the bollocks about not being backed, even in the summer of despair he could bring in seven new players including two keepers while letting the keeper who would prove to be instrumental to promotion leave on loan.

Also not signing any CBs despite Chester being the only senior one there to the point where he had to partner Jedinak in defence even though he was injured which has probably taken a couple of years off his career. Not to mention that he was playing Tuanzebe, who was a natural CB at RB the whole time. Tuanzebe then became pivotal in our promotion push playing at, you guessed it, CB.

[Mark Albrighton]

5 hours ago, Keyblade said:

Also not signing any CBs despite Chester being the only senior one there to the point where he had to partner Jedinak in defence even though he was injured which has probably taken a couple of years off his career. Not to mention that he was playing Tuanzebe, who was a natural CB at RB the whole time. Tuanzebe then became pivotal in our promotion push playing at, you guessed it, CB.

I know, I know. There’s only so much I wanted to write in the post. The loaning out of Elphick, supposedly for financial reasons, then is contradicted by Bolasie and his even higher wages....it’s another thing to get into and I haven’t the energy.

The right back situation frankly could have been it’s own thread at the time to try and make sense of it, we have Hutton, so let’s buy Bree and not play him (cos we’re minding the pennies), so back to Hutton, (while buying Taylor for left back), then buy Elmo, but as a winger, until Snodders comes in, so we’ll put him at right back and stick Hutton at left back. Is De Laet back yet? Doesn’t matter, we’ll loan Axel and stick him at right back. 

And as technically he played there, I suppose I’d better mention Micah Richards too, but he’s kinda adjacent to the right back merry go round.

[fightoffyour]

9 hours ago, Mark Albrighton said:

That’s a reasonable hit rate I think. It’s just all the bollocks about not being backed, even in the summer of despair he could bring in seven new players including two keepers while letting the keeper who would prove to be instrumental to promotion leave on loan.

Isn’t the other keeper a Champions League regular as well?

10 hours ago, Jono62 said:

Your book, Striker is an international best seller.

In fairness it may well be if it had another run. Those things are like gold dust! Worth sharing this review once again in case anyone hasn’t seen it:
 

Quote

Bright red blood on the knife blade.

The knife in my hand.

Duffy’s dead body stretched out on the locker room floor…

And with such drama, begins STRIKER! The first novel by footballer, manager and actual published novelist, Steve Bruce. Written in the first person, Striker puts the reader in the shoes of Steve Barnes, manager of Leddersford Town, a small but historic club hoping to rise to the Premiership from English football’s second tier.

But there’s trouble afoot!

Barnes finds young Irish striker Pat Duffy stabbed to death in the changing room and, becoming suspected of the murder, spends the rest of the book struggling to clear his name. In an odd move, he decides to do so by solving the case on his own, despite (a) the police already being involved, (b) being himself a suspect and (c) his having neither the expertise, training, nor free time available to investigate a murder.

 

[TheStagMan]

13 hours ago, rodders0223 said:

Nobody, he's a specialist is PL survival. Been there, done it, got the T shirt. Tried and trusted. A proper man. A proper warrior. Not a quieter. Nobody is more up for the fight for it than Brucey.

Apart from the times he has been relegated (two different clubs)..... but we don't talk about that.

[NeilS]

11 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Terry was the one, I’ve said it before but I’m convinced he’s a been huge part of how we’ve been able to go from total horror show to where we are now. 
 

He appears to me to have helped set the tone of what’s expected at Aston Villa, he led by example on the pitch for a season and since coming back with Smith I’m convinced he’s remained a big figure in the ethos and overall culture of the club.

And the fact is that without Bruce I’m not sure we’d have signed Terry.

I think Terry and Snodgrass were the two main players who helped change the atmosphere in the dressing room, and helped fix the disconnect between the players and the fans. I think those two were a major factor in what started our turnaround, the toxic atmosphere that was still hanging around the club after the Lerner years and the relegation had made Villa Park a nervy place for home players. Like you say Bruce did help bring them both to Villa so he does get credit from me for that.

[Amsterdam_Neil_D]

11 hours ago, rjw63 said:

dusting worselves doon?

Lives in a vacuum bag by the sounds of it.

[Amsterdam_Neil_D]

I think Bruce reads the Audio book of his own book.  Woor