Steve Bruce

[briny_ear]

3 hours ago, Grasshopper said:

my money's on Sheepy

 

1 hour ago, TRO said:

Just seen some odds for the title next season in the championship.

Aston Villa 9/4 favourites......Derby second favourites

@Grasshopper. Put your money on Villa instead is my advice. 

Edited April 27, 2017 by briny_ear

[bobzy]

2 hours ago, TRO said:

Just seen some odds for the title next season in the championship.

Aston Villa 9/4 favourites......Derby second favourites

Presumably like this because the outcome of the playoffs is as yet unknown?

That said, I think only Fulham would be arguably more fancied. 

[sheepyvillian]

What's the odds on us stringing three passes together in one game ? Probably a lot more generous than 9/4 .

[KSV]

Im not a massive fan or Bruce as a manager or our style of play. I think our players can play alot better under a good manager. The problem is are they willing to come now? If not.. why get rid of Bruce? If we can only bring another so so manager. If we can get Rafa or someone.. then sure.. bring him in but that sort of calibre manager won't want to come now. 

We need stability.. Bruce is a decent enough manager who knows how to get out of the division. He seems like a likeable manager for the players.. they seem to be fighting for him and he has created a very good team spirit in the squad with the players he's bought in. This is a massive thing that gets overlooked. I haven't seen a group like the current lot who enjoy each other's company and have a decent relationship with the fans in a long while. We also have not had a manager with multiple transfer windows to build a squad they want. If we bring another manager.. we may have to have a turn over of players and start again.

I think Bruce knows the problems and limitations of the squad. I think he will be after a defender.. keeper and a midfielder and striker who know how to look after the ball. He knows we don't keep possession well.

The squad is close and I think a bit more tinkering.. he can get us over the line. I expect more from Lansbury and Hourihane after an off season too.  As both haven't performed as well as they have at their previous clubs.

I fully expect a top 2 finish next season.

Edited April 27, 2017 by KSV

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Posted in the transfers thread but just as relevant here...

It's actually quite rare that teams sign 7 players in January and hit the ground running. By the end of that horrible little run we were 22 points off the pace, from there they have shown signs of improvement, certainly in their ability to grind and perhaps we have regressed in some ways. As the season is over for us, you are likely to see a little more tiredness in the legs than you would hope for if they had something to play for. It's a natural human reaction and I'm not expecting much to change from here on in.

Hey, looking back maybe Bruce's Villa win 8 of those first 11 games and we are currently sitting in 6th. Maybe we're worse off, heck I dunno. What I do know is that building ANOTHER new squad now would be utterly reckless and I sincerely hope that isn't the plan. 

We signed two central midfielders in the January window. After a very bright start, both have dropped off the pace. I'm happy to give them, and the manager, time to make it work. If we can add 2 or 3 players with a little extra quality into the mix and ship out more of the dead wood, fantastic.

Now is definitely not the time to lose our heads. 

[skarroki]

I can see a situation where Leeds finish 7th and the nutcase board sack Monk and sell off there best players. If that was the case I'd be looking to sack Bruce, bring in Monk and tell him to bring over from Leeds anyone he thought would improve our side.

[Grasshopper]

19 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

That isn't really the point. 

As none of us have played professional football at a high level I'd say we don't know anything for a fact, no. Touche. 

So 100% of us fans don't know anything for a fact.

19 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I bet if you took a poll of the wider fan base less than 5% would advocate sacking Bruce. 

I'm not saying anything beyond that, I'm just saying. 

So the 95+% know just as little as the less than 5%

The performances are there for all to see

Edited April 28, 2017 by Grasshopper

[Godders]

11 minutes ago, skarroki said:

I can see a situation where Leeds finish 7th and the nutcase board sack Monk and sell off there best players. If that was the case I'd be looking to sack Bruce, bring in Monk and tell him to bring over from Leeds anyone he thought would improve our side.

And then we can all call for Monk's head in September when we're outside the playoff spots while a new coaching set-up and a raft of new first team players are all trying to bed in at the same time.

[Grasshopper]

17 hours ago, vreitti said:

How do you know? @TRO might be Steve Bruce, and I'm fairly certain @Grasshopper is Tim Sherwood.

Hey hey, down boy, be careful

I'm not TS

TS is a Cockney-wide-boy who knows F***all about how to manage a football team.

GH is a Brummie who knows........... wait a minute

[Grasshopper]

6 minutes ago, Godders said:

And then we can all call for Monk's head in September when we're outside the playoff spots while a new coaching set-up and a raft of new first team players are all trying to bed in at the same time.

what's the difference between calling for Bruce's or Monk's head then?

Whoever is manager and it's not "working" (top2) should be sacked anyway.

If our so called football men in charge are not capable of setting out a blueprint and appoint the right guy to implement our "football philosophy" first time round (no punn intended) then we have no other choice but to wait for the "next" lucky dip to either flop or work out.

what else do you expect? stick with whoever regardless of how many years we miss out on promotion?

[dn1982]

18 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I bet if you took a poll of the wider fan base less than 5% would advocate sacking Bruce. 

I'm not saying anything beyond that, I'm just saying. 

I'd guarantee the majority would agree the footballs crap and he needs to improve. Calling for improvement isn't calling for his head but can easily change. Hopefully he gets us playing and he gets us results big summer ahead. 

[Grasshopper]

majority rules

[Demitri_C]

1 hour ago, skarroki said:

I can see a situation where Leeds finish 7th and the nutcase board sack Monk and sell off there best players. If that was the case I'd be looking to sack Bruce, bring in Monk and tell him to bring over from Leeds anyone he thought would improve our side.

Ah Gary Monk that has done what Bruce did in early in 2017 and made Leeds fall out of the play offs? Monk has  a habit of finishing the season in poor form what kind of chance would we have in play offs with Monk with that kind of form? I would say very little . At least Bruce has done it by automatic and via play offs, rather have the experienced guy any day  

Edited April 28, 2017 by Demitri_C

[Godders]

1 hour ago, Grasshopper said:

what's the difference between calling for Bruce's or Monk's head then?

Whoever is manager and it's not "working" (top2) should be sacked anyway.

If our so called football men in charge are not capable of setting out a blueprint and appoint the right guy to implement our "football philosophy" first time round (no punn intended) then we have no other choice but to wait for the "next" lucky dip to either flop or work out.

what else do you expect? stick with whoever regardless of how many years we miss out on promotion?

I think everyone agrees that we're far from being the finished article, but we're now on that journey with Bruce. 

If we sack him now and get someone else in, all the meetings that have happened between the football men identifying summer targets, the meetings with suits agreeing the money needed, the initial enquiries made to clubs, the meetings Bruce would have had with his coaches agreeing the summer training strategy, the chats Bruce and his coaches would have had with players both here and on loan, all of that would be wasted. Put simply, we'd be right back to square one. We'd be at a distinct disadvantage to most other clubs who would have been planning this summer for months. 

Proper planning and preperation prevents piss poor performance. If it's clear that Bruce is not up to the task (to most, there is no clear evidence yet to suggest that he is not) the club will start planning for his departure. They may already have started on contingency planning in case we have to let him go early next season, but that takes time to make any transition as smooth as possible.

Getting another manager in because of grass is greener reasoning puts us back so far as to put at risk our promotion next season imo, especially when there's no logical reason to suggest that Monk, or whoever, would be any more likely than Bruce to get us up. 

The point of my post was that the expectation is rightly, to get promoted next season. Bringing in a new manager undoes a lot of work that's gone on behind the scenes this season specifically aimed at achieving that goal. My opinion is that a new coach would be far more likely to not get the start that you, I and others want to see, and on that basis, there would be some pretty vocal people calling for his head.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, Grasshopper said:

So 100% of us fans don't know anything for a fact.

So the 95+% know just as little as the less than 5%

The performances are there for all to see

Seeing and understanding the performances......and the coming up with a reasonable explanation as to why......are 2 different things.

The manager can see it ,everyone can see it.

its the how you fix it is where the differences of opinion kicks in.

[TRO]

53 minutes ago, Godders said:

I think everyone agrees that we're far from being the finished article, but we're now on that journey with Bruce. 

If we sack him now and get someone else in, all the meetings that have happened between the football men identifying summer targets, the meetings with suits agreeing the money needed, the initial enquiries made to clubs, the meetings Bruce would have had with his coaches agreeing the summer training strategy, the chats Bruce and his coaches would have had with players both here and on loan, all of that would be wasted. Put simply, we'd be right back to square one. We'd be at a distinct disadvantage to most other clubs who would have been planning this summer for months. 

Proper planning and preperation prevents piss poor performance. If it's clear that Bruce is not up to the task (to most, there is no clear evidence yet to suggest that he is not) the club will start planning for his departure. They may already have started on contingency planning in case we have to let him go early next season, but that takes time to make any transition as smooth as possible.

Getting another manager in because of grass is greener reasoning puts us back so far as to put at risk our promotion next season imo, especially when there's no logical reason to suggest that Monk, or whoever, would be any more likely than Bruce to get us up. 

The point of my post was that the expectation is rightly, to get promoted next season. Bringing in a new manager undoes a lot of work that's gone on behind the scenes this season specifically aimed at achieving that goal. My opinion is that a new coach would be far more likely to not get the start that you, I and others want to see, and on that basis, there would be some pretty vocal people calling for his head.

Every now and again, we get a post like this......very sensible reasoning.

[TRO]

I still have a concern that some think there is a manager out there that can flick a switch.

Rafa had a far different canvas to work with than SB......Their final season in the Prem was a struggle ours was a complete catastrophe.

Edited April 28, 2017 by TRO

[Eastie]

2 hours ago, skarroki said:

I can see a situation where Leeds finish 7th and the nutcase board sack Monk and sell off there best players. If that was the case I'd be looking to sack Bruce, bring in Monk and tell him to bring over from Leeds anyone he thought would improve our side.

Monks contract ends this season anyway at Leeds so they don't need to sack him and last time I saw he was asked about it and said there had been no mention of an extension so far .

still think I'd stick with Bruce though and if he gets off to a good start next season hopefully it will put to bed the doubts .

[dont_do_it_doug.]

3 hours ago, dn1982 said:

I'd guarantee the majority would agree the footballs crap and he needs to improve. Calling for improvement isn't calling for his head but can easily change. Hopefully he gets us playing and he gets us results big summer ahead. 

Sure. I'd agree with that. I don't know anyone who thinks that the football of late has been pleasing on the eye. 

[kurtsimonw]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

Seeing and understanding the performances......and the coming up with a reasonable explanation as to why......are 2 different things.

The manager can see it ,everyone can see it.

its the how you fix it is where the differences of opinion kicks in.

Agreed. 

The fact that Bruce even during our winning run was saying that the football needs to improve is why I'm more than happy for him to continue. If he was saying we're playing well, the football is fine, etc. because the results are there, then that would be more concerning.