Steve Bruce

[The Fun Factory]

Job swap- Bruce to Albion and Big Sam back to the barcodes?

I would say Brucey's transfers were ok on the whole with some good ones and some panic buy ones which did not work. 

The problem is that there appeared to have no strategic thought out plan in our transfers, it was just random buys or people he was probably mates with like Elmo, Terry and Snodgrass.

All in the past now.

[useless]

Players like Snodgrass and Terry didn't join us because of Bruce, as much as they might like him, it was because of the money, and Terry also because we promised to help him with his coaching badges, and because it was a chance for him to end his career at a big club but still get plenty of game time in because we were in the championship at the time. if Bruce was small heath manager at the time I doubt he would have chosen them over us.

Not a criticism of Bruce, I just seriously doubt he was the deciding factor in Terry joining.

[The Fun Factory]

2 minutes ago, useless said:

Players like Snodgrass and Terry didn't join us because of Bruce, as much as they might like him, it was because of the money, and Terry also because we promised to help him with his coaching badges, and because it was a chance for him to end his career at a big club but still get plenty of game time in because we were in the championship at the time. if Bruce was small heath manager at the time I doubt he would have chosen them over us.

Not a criticism of Bruce, I just seriously doubt he was the deciding factor in Terry joining.

Well sure the 60 grand a week certainly helped.  If we only offered championship money he would not  have come to us. But Terry could have gone abroad and earned even more money. He played golf with Bruce in Portugal and that is what probably started the move.

[useless]

He played golf with Steve Bruce in Portugal because he knew we were going to be paying him £3m plus, makes sense for him to meet up with the manager before signing. And I seriously doubt playing for Bruce was the deciding factor in him not going abroad, that was probably because he didn't want to uproot his family, and like I said he also wanted to do his FA coaching badges, which I presume would be easier whilst based in the UK.

Terry has turned out to be very good for the club, but at the same it was that kind of deal that helped to very nearly put us out of business, so probably doing SB a favor in not giving him the credit for that one.

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by useless

[useless]

Bruce his real, Bruce is human, Bruce has a soul like me and you, he laughs, he cries, he lives his life sharing moments with his family, he has integrity.

Puts football into perspective, go well and take care Mr Bruce.

[bannedfromHandV]

1 hour ago, useless said:

Players like Snodgrass and Terry didn't join us because of Bruce, as much as they might like him, it was because of the money, and Terry also because we promised to help him with his coaching badges, and because it was a chance for him to end his career at a big club but still get plenty of game time in because we were in the championship at the time. if Bruce was small heath manager at the time I doubt he would have chosen them over us.

Not a criticism of Bruce, I just seriously doubt he was the deciding factor in Terry joining.

I love how short some people’s memories are, bordering on amnesia this one.

Bruce was pivotal to signing Terry - JT said so himself!! 
 

No doubt considered as fake news by the ‘no, we cannot accept that Bruce did even one single positive thing because if I admit that then it devalues my position as being anti-Bruce’ brigade.

[rodders0223]

2 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

I love how short some people’s memories are, bordering on amnesia this one.

Bruce was pivotal to signing Terry - JT said so himself!! 
 

No doubt considered as fake news by the ‘no, we cannot accept that Bruce did even one single positive thing because if I admit that then it devalues my position as being anti-Bruce’ brigade.

JT has been a club captain and club man all his life. He isn't going to chuck anyone under the bus publicly. Least of all his mates dad.

 

I have no doubt with his CV , managerial history and standards he was appalled and the goings on at training under Bruce. 3 days off a week and a kick about was the sum of it by all accounts 

[Tomaszk]

Last night he played centre mid Isaac Hayden at right back.

He had Javier Manquillo a right back Rafa signed on the bench.

He had Emil Krafth a right back he signed also on the bench.

Ha.

[The Fun Factory]

4 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

JT has been a club captain and club man all his life. He isn't going to chuck anyone under the bus publicly. Least of all his mates dad.

 

I have no doubt with his CV , managerial history and standards he was appalled and the goings on at training under Bruce. 3 days off a week and a kick about was the sum of it by all accounts 

Do you have any evidence for that? Grealish progression as a footballer under Bruce's time with us suggests not. He made it clear to Jack what was needed to make it as  top level athlete. Yes Bruce is a big fella now but he was a professional footballer for about 20 years.

My only other major gripe with Bruce is with Chester in that he certainly worsened his condition by playing while injured as for some reason he didn't fancy Elphick (even though he couldn't bring himself to sell him). That was bad.

[Zatman]

2 Top 10 Premier League finishes in 13 seasons as a a manager. One at Sunderland when Bent was on fire. Other at blues he deserves some credit

No trophies, 1 FA Cup final loss from 2-0 up and a couple of play-off wins, i dont even think the promotion specialist has won the Championship

2 relegations though he left blues the season they went down and a week or 2 before the season started when Hull went down. Was arguably taking Sunderland down as well 

[HanoiVillan]

1 hour ago, useless said:

Bruce his real, Bruce is human, Bruce has a soul like me and you, he laughs, he cries, he lives his life sharing moments with his family, he has integrity.

Puts football into perspective, go well and take care Mr Bruce.

This slightly odd but also rather touching post reminds me that part of the reason I also tend to go easy on Bruce by comparison to many on the board is him losing both his parents while he was with us. I am fortunate in that both my parents are still here, and still in reasonable health, so I'm not going to say I know what it's like to lose a parent, but I'm sure it's horrible and I wouldn't really like to go through it in the media spotlight.

It really is just football at the end of the day.

[TrentVilla]

There real is nothing new to be said about Bruce’s time at Villa and certainly no consensus will ever be reached, he will forever be a decisive figure. I think the only thing everyone agrees on is that we are glad he isn’t out manager.
 

The focus of discussion really should be more about his current ‘performance’ at Newcastle and how long he can hold on to the job.

[Mark Albrighton]

1 hour ago, TrentVilla said:

There real is nothing new to be said about Bruce’s time at Villa and certainly no consensus will ever be reached, he will forever be a decisive figure. I think the only thing everyone agrees on is that we are glad he isn’t out manager.
 

The focus of discussion really should be more about his current ‘performance’ at Newcastle and how long he can hold on to the job.

Put it down to seeing how our tyneside chums are faring and it provoking a bit nostalgia in folk.

Also, unless it’s stating the need for getting boots on, I’m not sure Bruce is a decisive figure, but I’m sure people on here certainly find him to be a divisive figure 

[TrentVilla]

1 minute ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Put it down to seeing how our tyneside chums are faring and it provoking a bit nostalgia in folk.

Also, unless it’s stating the need for getting boots on, I’m not sure Bruce is a decisive figure, but I’m sure people on here certainly find him to be a divisive figure 

Bloody auto correct.

[villa89]

1 hour ago, TrentVilla said:

Newcastle and how long he can hold on to the job.

Hopefully until they are 18th in the championship in January 2022. 

[Pez1974]

The man is a footballing dinosaur - he has about as much insight into players, tactics and the opponent as your average Sunday league manager. But he's a 'name' with friends in the media. It's time these guys were out of English football forever - give the next generation a chance.

I am so happy our owners went for Deano, rather than stick with the cabbage, or go for the 'name' in Henry.

[MessiWillSignForVilla]

3 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

Do you have any evidence for that? Grealish progression as a footballer under Bruce's time with us suggests not. He made it clear to Jack what was needed to make it as  top level athlete. Yes Bruce is a big fella now but he was a professional footballer for about 20 years.

My only other major gripe with Bruce is with Chester in that he certainly worsened his condition by playing while injured as for some reason he didn't fancy Elphick (even though he couldn't bring himself to sell him). That was bad.

Here's what Ritchie de Laet had to say about Bruce's training.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/ex-villa-defender-de-laet-criticises-bruces-training-methods/ar-BBZXxpd

Quote

“Steve Bruce wasn’t my cup of tea. The football was similar to Tony Pulis but at least Tony had a plan.”

“I remember Steve would throw the ball into the middle in training and say, ‘Let’s play’, like we were under-nines. It was crazy.”

 

[TrentVilla]

3 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

Do you have any evidence for that? Grealish progression as a footballer under Bruce's time with us suggests not. He made it clear to Jack what was needed to make it as  top level athlete. Yes Bruce is a big fella now but he was a professional footballer for about 20 years.

My only other major gripe with Bruce is with Chester in that he certainly worsened his condition by playing while injured as for some reason he didn't fancy Elphick (even though he couldn't bring himself to sell him). That was bad.

Yes Jack progressed under Bruce but was that because of Bruce? I think it is hard to argue that it was because of Bruce when no other player improved under him and more alarmingly all the ones he signed seemingly went backwards.

I don’t believe Bruce had any influence in Jack, Terry on the other hand clearly did, so you could give Bruce secondary credit I guess but that is it.

[Mark Albrighton]

3 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

It really is just football at the end of the day.

It is and I think the vast majority of the time on here people are on the right side of criticism/abuse. Certainly compared to the Newcastle forum that’s been linked, that’s something else. Some of it makes me laugh (the petty “I hope he puts his blue bin out on green bin week” is a personal favourite). But some of it is too aggressive.

He obviously went through a terrible time personally when he was with us, so I am mindful of that. 

On the criticism front, Bruce has always had this hard done by, almost Eeyore persona, which I think is a factor in why he annoys a great number of supporters. He says he has thick skin or that he ignores the criticism but clearly that isn’t the case based on his comments. I don’t think I’ve seen any other manager talk about what people think of him as much as Bruce does. And it’s not like he’s the only one who gets stick. The managers he’s lumped in with, Pulis, Allardyce, Hughes, Pardew...they all get their fair share of dog’s abuse but they don’t give off the same woe is me vibe. 

Pardew for instance, maybe a rocket polisher but he has an irrepressible quality about him. Allardyce has a bullish quality, Pulis and Hughes have a sort of angry energy about them. And I have the sense that they all at the very least believe in their abilities. I’m not sure that’s true of Bruce.

[VillaChris]

5 hours ago, useless said:

Players like Snodgrass and Terry didn't join us because of Bruce, as much as they might like him, it was because of the money, and Terry also because we promised to help him with his coaching badges, and because it was a chance for him to end his career at a big club but still get plenty of game time in because we were in the championship at the time. if Bruce was small heath manager at the time I doubt he would have chosen them over us.

Not a criticism of Bruce, I just seriously doubt he was the deciding factor in Terry joining.

All "waifs and strays" according to Bruce though.

Quote

I took over a club, even though they were Aston Villa, they were bottom of the league and a club that was in a mess. We did well to stay up. That was my first season, 'Jesus we’ve done well to stay up'.

“Then after bringing in £25 million and spending £2 million on loans, waifs and strays then we didn’t do badly. Disappointed that we didn’t win it (the play-off). We fell at the final furlong.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/steve-bruce-aston-villa-rotherham-15160094

Steve Bruce's own words in September 2018 so he was of the opinion we did well to stay up in 16/17 which I think was understandably disputed on here the other day considering the squad cost.

Pretty amusing when you think at the same time Warnock at Cardiff was getting in freebies like Holliet and Mendez Laing who nobody at championship level wanted and yet in short period meshed them all together to get automatic promotion over us.

Edited January 27, 2021 by VillaChris