briny_ear Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 On 06/05/2017 at 11:27, DCJonah said: If i give him a clean slate or not my expectation for next season is automatic promotion. If we don't start off the season looking like we can achieve that then I hope he will be sacked. We'll take that as a "No", then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicVillan Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 Clean slate ? No... he needs to have a good hard think though over the Summer about why millions if £'s worth of attacking talent has turned into a negative hoofball side. I partly put it down to us being so utterly broken as a club last season and dropping out the Premiership in such a bad way, so a " Can Win" attitude becomes a "Don't Lose". Hopefully they can "reset" mentally and tactically and have the self belief that they won't get hammered every week if they go at teams. I give it 4 / 5 games before we will know the answer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 It's funny this thread. It's something Mark alluded to on the SB thread yesterday. People can get caught up in their own little bubble on VT and the internet in general. Going down VP I don't detect any sort of animosity to SB at all....yes this has been a disappointing year but I haven't heard much dissent towards him at all apart from probably the Barnsley game when we were in our terrible run. I think most people are looking more to next season and expecting things to improve then. If they don't then we all know what will happen. Clean slates? Well at the start of every season Lambert always seemed to get them in the expectation we'd actually start to look convincing under his watch. It never happened as he led us to more humiliating defeats and runs. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberman Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 I'm not really sure there's much to say. Overall Bruce's reign has been uninspiring and disappointing so far. Bad runs have been bad. Good runs have been almost as bad. But we start next season with him at the helm, hopefully a few decent additions and expecting (and needing) promotion. The target of 2 points per game is pretty obvious - drop behind that for more than a few games and it's New Manager thread time again. Ideally along the way the football will get better, we'll play as a team, we'll be confident and attacking and we'll give a few sides a good thrashing. Deliver that and 100 points and I'll polish the slate myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srsmithusa Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 no. What possible benefit is there to ignoring realities. (let's put blinders on and deliberately forget large chunks of what we have seen and then make a good decision based on what partial information remains) makes no sense at all. Those that think he's done fine will not give him a "clean slate" they will start off positively disposed. I will do the opposite. I'll still hope for and cheer for, every positive result, but I will not turn my memory into swiss cheese before I draw any conclusions. I think it's foolish for anyone to do so. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 There is no slate to be cleaned for me. This past season the club has stopped going backwards and Bruce has been a big part of turning us around and for the first time in years we are now pointing in the right direction. The challenge for Bruce now is to take us forwards and quickly. He isn't a fool. He knows his job is to get us promoted next season. No if's no buts and I am confident he knows what he needs to do over the summer to ensure we can achieve that. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted May 8, 2017 Moderator Share Posted May 8, 2017 I'm all for keeping Bruce at the moment, but I think the term 'clean slate' is a misnomer. He has had 35 games and a transfer window in order to not only attempt promotion, but to assess what he has here and what he needs to be promoted next season. This can not be ignored. He doesn't go into next season as a new manager at the club. This history has to be a part of whatever 'slate' people are giving him, and I'm sure the good doctor will also be mindful of that. We must go up next season. It's irrelevant how clean the slate is. That's not to say we need to be top from day 1. It doesn't work like that. Re- that point, I clarified that here and here. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 No, probably due to concern for the global slate shortage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilS Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 It is safe to say that we need to improve our style of play over the summer, and with that improved performances and results in the process. Bruce came in and helped stopped the rot for which I am fairly happy as we were pretty rotten last season. I was hopeful that a late charge for the playoffs was still a possibility albeit a long shot. Unfortunately our dreadful form in January and February put paid to that. I will cut Bruce a little slack over our style or lack of it this season, as I am not sure how easy it is to impose a style on a bunch of new players who barely know each other, mid season with games coming thick and fast, with sometimes 2 or 3 games coming in seven day periods. I would hope that with a settled pre-season and one that has been organised by the current boss rather than the previous boss, We will be up challenging in the top few positions from the beginning of next season, and our aim should be the top 2 at the end. There cannot be any excuses for failure next season. promotion is a must! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 Why a clean slate? He has been here for over half a season and has spent £15m-£20m (depending on which figures you believe) on players. We've had more than enough time to form an opinion on him, whether that be positive or negative. Developing amnesia about this past season is not particularly useful or helpful. As far as I'm concerned this season has highlighted some serious flaws and what I expect, given a full preseason, is that these are corrected. I expect us to start the season playing more positive football and getting better results. If things aren't looking good after 5 games then people will rightly ask questions as to whether Bruce is the right man for the job, based on that start and what we have seen this past season. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 (edited) If any point during next season were more than 15 points away from the top 2 Bruce should be sacked immediately. Enough of the excuses the players we have should be performing a hell of alot better than they have been so far. Edited May 8, 2017 by AshVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave J Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 On 06/05/2017 at 11:59, thabucks said: No clean slate for me, I'll still want him gone on a personal level. I never really was behind his appointment from the start, warmed to him slightly before Christmas as we were getting results but then our dreadful form which IMO was due to his own shortcomings and approach to games was the nail in the coffin. That said whenever I get to games I'm always right behind him and the team as ultimately I want our club back in the Premier league, so I put aside my personal views and go into every match open minded hoping to be proved wrong. Even though I'm very much anti Bruce I do actually want him to succeed and be made to eat my words as the club is the only thing that matters in all this. My personal views and ego are insignificant in the bigger picture. And will hold my hands up to a certain degree and admit I was wrong when hopefully I am proven wrong. I just believe he is the wrong man for the job, and will struggle to get us promoted next season. It is my view we are wasting a huge opportunity to rebuild the club whilst down here with a footballing identity ala Swansea, or Southampton. Clubs with clear footballing ethos on how they want there teams to play and when looking to replace their managers (Bradley aside) the manager fits to their plan and philosophy. Too many times over the years when choosing our next manager we have gone the polar opposite in terms of footballing ethos. I want this to change, if we continue down the Bruce path for too long then for his work to be continued without ripping it apart and starting again, you are looking at managers like Moyes- dour and defensive. Here here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave J Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 Not for me sorry - as stated elsewhere I was never behind his appointment and I've not seen anything to change my mind. cut our loses now for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
It's Your Round Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 I think it's fairly certain that Bruce will be in charge for our first game, Wyness, Xia and co have pretty much alluded to that. But that will change if the results don't come. Bruce will know what he has to do, he's not blind to expectations. I'll be looking for a deliberate style of play, team cohesion, chances created, goals and of course, wins. If he delivers these then I'm happy. More than happy. If he doesn't and shows no sign of improvement then yes, he needs to go. Simply because we need to make this season count. We have decent players now, for this division. with a preseason under their belts and some new signings mixed in, we should be good enough to go up. It's time to walk the walk. Ill support Bruce and the team, as always, until it's obvious he's done all he can do. I'm actually looking forward to this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 On 2017-5-6 at 11:14, brommy said: Clean slate at the start of the season but with high expectations of at least 2 points per match after the first half dozen games. Assuming Dr. Tony backs Bruce early enough in the transfer window and after a full preseason of training and friendly games there should be no excuses. This is where i am. I was very much pro Bruce until a few weeks ago but week by week my support is waning. The support from Xia is also something we shouldn't overlook when assessing Bruce. I've said this before so i probably sound like a broken record, but our spending in this division means that Bruce can build a squad without the financial restrictions that 95% of our competition face. Time, no pre-season, limited transfer windows to build a squad, limited money relative to competition, come August there are no excuses left. If we are still seeing the same sh#t after 6 games i think even the most ardent Bruce fan (which i was 5/6 ago) will be calling for his head. With the resources at his disposal, next year we should be winning this league at a canter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 We start the season with zero points, Bruce will be manager, therefore I see no other option. The fact that this is even a discussion worries me a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 3 hours ago, markavfc40 said: There is no slate to be cleaned for me. This past season the club has stopped going backwards and Bruce has been a big part of turning us around and for the first time in years we are now pointing in the right direction. The challenge for Bruce now is to take us forwards and quickly. He isn't a fool. He knows his job is to get us promoted next season. No if's no buts and I am confident he knows what he needs to do over the summer to ensure we can achieve that. I'm not sure how you can say the club has stopped going backwards. After relegation we've just finished bottom half in the league below. I think claiming we're pointing in the right direction is very premature. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted May 8, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted May 8, 2017 Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 We came down with a punctured tyre.......we have spent this season taking off the tyre and repairing the tube......we should be back in the race next season. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntrimBlack Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 No clean slate. Got to be `suckin' diesel' right from the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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