Steve Bruce

[hippo]

I expect a statement or some indication that Bruce is staying in the next 48 hours - If the silence goes on beyond that I think his future here looks doubtful.

[TRO]

5 minutes ago, Eastie said:

As you know Tro I wanted jokanovic before Bruce got the job - I’ve always liked his style - I’m sorry we didn’t get him at that time as I’m sure we could have done . 

Eastie.....I didn't know and quite frankly don't care, sorry for being blunt.....perhaps it explains the stance you are taking on him.

I am bitterly disappointed too about the defeat , but i do not subscribe to Steve Bruce getting the Sack.....and I am of course expecting to see a change of intent going forward.

[mrjc]

5 minutes ago, holteend1982 said:

Harsh to blame just Bruce for that loss, could quite easily say grealish who missed a great chance and didn't even hit the target off snoddys free kick cost us. The whole team needs to take the blame for that result. 

You're right, in a single match like that it's difficult to blame just the manager.  But over the season, it's much more clear in my opinion.  We came fourth (by a decent margin), and so by definition didn't deserve to be promoted.  That's with more than 18 months in the role, considerable resources and a full pre-season to prepare.  Simply not good enough. 

[TRO]

12 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

It hasn't been 2 seasons Stan.....Its been 2 seasons less 11 games....lets get it right.

Stan is entitled to his opinion.....but if SAF had of been judged on his results in the early days, history would have been a lot different.

I am sure an adult debate will be made

 

Edited May 29, 2018 by TRO

[smg]

39 minutes ago, thabucks said:

We are **** finacially with a dinosaur of a manager an ageing squad dessimated and short of quality and saleable assets yet people want to keep **** Steve Bruce as manager as the unknown could be worse . My mind boggles 

I don't think a lot of fans really understand what a waste the last two seasons has been and how ****  we are

xia gambled put his faith in football people yet we are the same train wreck we were under Lerner with over payed players on vast wages and no resale value but criticise him and just because he isn't Lerner it alright 

we are a mess and he has to take his share of the blame 

bruce needs to go asap 

 

i suspect from your comments on this board that you are involved in some way in the world of football possibly financially ? I am interested to know your suggestions as to how we should go forward. Who should be our next manager ? Who should we sign ?

[holteend1982]

1 minute ago, mrjc said:

You're right, in a single match like that it's difficult to blame just the manager.  But over the season, it's much more clear in my opinion.  We came fourth (by a decent margin), and so by definition didn't deserve to be promoted.  That's with more than 18 months in the role, considerable resources and a full pre-season to prepare.  Simply not good enough. 

On a whole I don't think it was a bad season, yes we failed to get promoted but we gave it a really good shot. I'd still be willing to give Bruce another chance again however I would be open to a change providing it was a completely different style of manager. 

I think Bruce will resign anyway its been a tough year for him and he may just be thinking about retiring or at least taking some time out the game. 

[Zatman]

4 minutes ago, TRO said:

It hasn't been 2 seasons Stan.....Its been 2 seasons less 11 games....lets get it right.

Stan is entitled to his opinion.....but if SAF had of been judged on his results, history would have been a lot different.

I am sure an adult debate will be made

 

Its been 3 transfer windows, multiple coaching appointments,  the mythical pre-season, 15 players brought in and zero actual game plan

[mrjc]

13 minutes ago, holteend1982 said:

On a whole I don't think it was a bad season, yes we failed to get promoted but we gave it a really good shot. I'd still be willing to give Bruce another chance again however I would be open to a change providing it was a completely different style of manager. 

I think Bruce will resign anyway its been a tough year for him and he may just be thinking about retiring or at least taking some time out the game. 

Agreed, I wouldn’t be surprised if he wants some time out (you couldn’t blame him tbf). 

And I see what you mean on this season. To be clear - I wouldn’t get rid simply as a penalty for not achieving promotion. I’d always try to view it from whether I think he can get us to our goals from here. Given he hasn’t done it yet, and the job is going to get harder, I don’t think he’ll get us there. So for me, that’s enough to make the change. 

[briny_ear]

2 hours ago, Zatman said:

Its been 3 transfer windows, multiple coaching appointments,  the mythical pre-season, 15 players brought in and zero actual game plan

So when John Terry said after the semi-final, “We had a game plan, and that’s down to the manager”, I guess you think he was just lying?

[Villarocker]

7 hours ago, Eastie said:

Ifs buts maybes mean nothing - we lost and they won .

you need to come to terms with the fact that we lost the game through negative  tactics in the first half  and Bruce carries the can . 

The first half tactics were disgraceful for such an occasion but, there's no denying the fact we should have been playing against 10 men for an hour, not 20 minutes! Decisions like that can win and lose you games. I believe we would have had Fredericks been sent off in the first half. 

[Demitri_C]

8 hours ago, thabucks said:

We are **** finacially with a dinosaur of a manager an ageing squad dessimated and short of quality and saleable assets yet people want to keep **** Steve Bruce as manager as the unknown could be worse . My mind boggles 

I don't think a lot of fans really understand what a waste the last two seasons has been and how ****  we are

xia gambled put his faith in football people yet we are the same train wreck we were under Lerner with over payed players on vast wages and no resale value but criticise him and just because he isn't Lerner it alright 

we are a mess and he has to take his share of the blame 

bruce needs to go asap 

 

I know some people are upset but calling bruce a dinosaur is disrespectable Nd quite frankly ridiculous. Considering he lost both his parents and atill came to games. Took us to a play off final where we lost to the best team left in the league by a narrow goal.

Our fan base at times

[DCJonah]

4 hours ago, briny_ear said:

So when John Terry said after the semi-final, “We had a game plan, and that’s down to the manager”, I guess you think he was just lying?

 Terry's comments add to the need to move on from Bruce. That game plan was terrible. 

[AntrimBlack]

4 hours ago, briny_ear said:

So when John Terry said after the semi-final, “We had a game plan, and that’s down to the manager”, I guess you think he was just lying?

Sounds to me like Terry is putting the blame on the manager.

[AntrimBlack]

8 hours ago, TRO said:

Of course they do.

Phone Sky Sports and tell them Villa are sacking Steve Bruce to get an unknown manager to do better.....see what reaction you get.

That will be the Steve Bruce luvvies, more overpaid, underworked veterans.

 

8 hours ago, TRO said:

But if Ipswich had of beaten Boro....would we have sacked or even talked about sacking Ron Saunders.....never in a million Years.

I am not defending Steve Bruce as much as you think I am.....I am trying to put things in perspective.

You really make too much play on if's and but's - immaterial. The discussion needs to move on to what actually happened during his tenure.

[AntrimBlack]

8 hours ago, hippo said:

He came within a whisker of getting us promoted - on that basis you stay with same man.

However the job looks quite different now - he has going to have to part with his best players - and promote some younger ones - in addition he has to find a goalscorer something that has eluded him at many of the clubs he has managed.

Not going to happen under Bruce.

It will be more old pros on a last hurrah.

[Sam3773]

I don't think you can take the final in isolation as a reason. Bruce himself seemed annoyed/upset/angry that we played so deep in the first half. Doesn't strike me as a decision he made. Not sure why he reverts to putting all the strikers on with no service, mind. 

I also believe he has done pretty well given circumstances. Our top scorer of last season was out for most of this one, and still hasn't got back to anywhere near the player he was. The entire spine of our team in Grealish, Jedinak and Terry were out for decent periods injured. And we still finished 4th. Would we have got automatics without the injuries? I'd be pretty confident. 

There's also an adage that another manager could have done better with this squad. I disagree. That's not a compliment to Bruce, though. The squad put together, on the whole, aren't designed to play quick attacking football. There's very little pace for that. However, Bruce put the squad together, so with the resources (money) Bruce had, then yes, potentially another manager could have done better. 

I'm not absolving Bruce by any stretch. He's the manager and has ultimate responsibility. Also, I've made it clear in the latest 'new manager' thread that I'd be happy with a change, but let's not kid ourselves here by making Bruce out to be a disaster because really, he was far from it and if we do keep him, I'd back him to get us 'there or there abouts' again. 

I'd much rather dominate and do it the easy way. 

[AntrimBlack]

8 hours ago, villarocker said:

I think Xia, Wyness and Round have to have a meeting with Bruce to discuss the future ASAP. 

First, they need to know if he wants to continue managing the club. Bruce may want a break from football after the year he's had in his personal life. 

Second, if Bruce wants to stay on, the board have to ask his ideas for the future. They need to be blunt with him and ask if that his the style of football he wishes to play or, if he feels that's forced on him by the players at his disposal. 

Third, if the style is what Bruce wants, the board have to question if that's good enough to get us up. If they accept it, they then need to work out how they go about funding replacements on the field. If they don't accept it, they need to find a new manager first and foremost.

Fourth, if Bruce thinks he would rather play a better brand of football, the board need to look at finding him more money so that he can buy the players capable of doing so. 

Personally, my hope is for the fourth option. I would love it if Bruce and the board came out and publicly spoke about that style being forced because of what we had and that it won't be like that going forward. We can have continuity at the club then and have the optimism of better football to watch.

That's my hope. However, I'm not so sure that 1) it isn't Bruce's preferred style and 2) The board can raise the funds for the personnel needed not to play that way. 

That was Bruce's preferred playing 'style', and he bought the players he thought he needed to implement it.

[TreeVillan]

13 hours ago, AndyM3000 said:

Bruce, Pulis, Fat Sam, Moyes etc.. all on a list of managers I wouldn't touch unless a time machine was invented and hoofball/defensive football came into fashion again.

Playing Devil's advocate here, do you really only want a style of football because it's fashionable?

Would you not accept Jose, Simeoni or even Rowett?

Edited May 29, 2018 by TreeVillan
Tipoz

[thejoker]

Still hurting. Felt even more when you realize how much all ppl love the club, gaffer, the whole squad, including myself, have given everything but still didn’t achieve our target. Also very difficult to verify ppl showing their real personality and humanity at this tough moment.

Dr Tony’s latest tweet, still referring to Bruce as gaffer, sounds like Bruce is staying to me. Unless I’m reading too much into it.

[striker]

If Bruce is retained nothing would change at the Villa from the last two seasons. Players returned to their clubs will be replaced by others with ‘experience’ so that they can handle the expectation level at the club.

This in turn would again stifle the growth of those young players doing so well in the U23s who would not get a consistent run in the first team because Bruce would be under so much pressure to succeed that he would repeat this season’s mistakes.

Furthermore those expecting a change in style of play if Bruce is retained are kidding themselves. It will be the same safety first approach which with few exceptions will not score enough goals to attain one of those automatic places which should be the expectation for a great club like Villa. 

Really that’s the choice for Xia. A safe pair of hands which will stagnate Villa possibly into the lottery of the playoffs again or employ a manager who will discard all the worse traits of that and build a new new young vibrant energetic team who will probably at worst reach the playoffs anyway?

I will be astounded if it’s the former!