Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[Clampy]

I am concerned about people thinking making the play-offs is promotion.  It is still only one chance in four, with a slight variance for relative form or luck.

We have to be targeting top two.

It's not promotion but it's a bonus chance of promotion, hence why it's called the play offs.

Obviously.

So do you believe that we have to be targeting top two and, if so, do you think we are capable of this as we now stand?

I think every team who wants promotion would want to do it automatically and as we stand, i doubt we'd do that.

[old man villa fan]

I am concerned about people thinking making the play-offs is promotion.  It is still only one chance in four, with a slight variance for relative form or luck.

We have to be targeting top two.

It's not promotion but it's a bonus chance of promotion, hence why it's called the play offs.

Obviously.

So do you believe that we have to be targeting top two and, if so, do you think we are capable of this as we now stand?

I think every team who wants promotion would want to do it automatically and as we stand, i doubt we'd do that.

So, what do we need to do to give ourselves a chance.

[Clampy]

I am concerned about people thinking making the play-offs is promotion.  It is still only one chance in four, with a slight variance for relative form or luck.

We have to be targeting top two.

It's not promotion but it's a bonus chance of promotion, hence why it's called the play offs.

Obviously.

So do you believe that we have to be targeting top two and, if so, do you think we are capable of this as we now stand?

I think every team who wants promotion would want to do it automatically and as we stand, i doubt we'd do that.

So, what do we need to do to give ourselves a chance.

Work on things during the summer and make some additions. There's a lot of improving to do.

[Diablo]

Looks as though the Steve Bruce PR machine has started (following Kendricks piece the other day). Awful piece (in my opinion) in the Mail but it certainly raises some points of discussion.


Steve Bruce WILL get Aston Villa promoted next season - definitely!

Keep the faith, Aston Villa fans...

BY STEVE WOLLASTON

Aston Villa will get promoted next season.
I’m sticking my neck out on that one, quite early on.
Steve Bruce will oversee a side that gets the club back to the Premier League at the second time of asking.
Let me explain why....

Experience

It is of course cliched to say that Bruce is experienced. After all, we know that.
That’s why he is here, why he was trusted to rebuild the club.
It isn’t just the experience of Championship football that is needed though. Again, we know he has that.
Everyone knows about the double promotions at Hull and at Blues.
His experience of rebuilding clubs is vital, ripping apart the fabric of the dressing room and its many components.
A football club is very much like an engine, to make it run smoothly and efficiently, all components need to be finely tuned.
That’s the next step.

Signings

If Bruce has made a key mistake since joining the club, it is probably one you can understand.
You see, Bruce has never had the potential to spend like he has at Villa.
Especially such a huge amount of activity in the January window.
Certainly he has never been in the position to try and force such a radical change so quickly.
I wouldn’t say he regrets the sudden impetus of players, but it certainly would have gone against his original plans to transform things in a more calm and orderly fashion.
That is Villa though. Drama at every turn, everyone riding the Tony Xia rollercoaster with white-knuckles and unbridled optimism.
That isn’t the Bruce way though, and in hindsight it probably should have been avoided.
It was essentially wholesale disruption to a seriously fractured situation in the early stages of recovery,. It was a quick-fix big band aid when what was actually needed was a solid fusion of the bone.

So what now?

The manic January explosion of transfer activity brought with it a great deal of disappointment. None of the players who came in have managed to have a consistent or definite impact.
Rather than panic about that situation, Villa must learn from it.
After all, these are still very good players who I am confident in most cases will become key players for the club next season.
They need to meld into the side and the dressing room as part of the new look Villa side. Many will say they already should have. The reality is more complicated.
Bruce has already promised sweeping changes at the club this summer, crucially there is talk of 10 or more players going out, and just four coming in.
Now, as much as we all love the craziness of the Xia inspired spending spree, this approach mentioned by Bruce is exactly what the club needs.
The main disruption at the club will be the lockers of the old guard getting emptied.
Names like Gil, Veretout, Sanchez and Kozak will not only cease to be a factor, the money that will be freed up will add stability to the wage bill.
That is where I believe Bruce will stand firm in the right direction for the club. I don’t think there will be any rushes of blood in terms of expenditure.
I think Xia will have listened to Bruce, understood what the manager wants, and will deliver that exact requirement.

Identity

So with a more settled set of playing staff, will we see a team that can eradicate the failings of this season?
Yes, and this is where it is important to say that this season has been a failure, even under Bruce.
This team even after January could and should have done better.
Nobody knows that more than Bruce, to his credit he has made no excuses for that and spoken in a very straight manner that everyone at the club must share blame, even him.
What Bruce will do now though is provide a team that is capable of getting out of this league, potentially in the top two.
He will spend the summer working on a discipline and identity to this team that will focus on efficiency and results.
He has bemoaned the workrate at times of the team and the ability to control games. With the attacking riches on offer, Villa have still fallen short.
It will be vital to get the midfield right and vital to get the team attacking in a more ruthless and convincing manner.
'Convincing', for me, is the word that matters. It is hard to make a case for Villa being convincing in many games this season - even the ones they have won.
That is the biggest challenge for Bruce, letting the team meld together enough to form a real ethos and ruthlessness.

Proving people wrong

Bruce, despite his experience of this league is acutely aware of the unique situation at Villa.
The slump, the signings, the expectations, and of course the ambition.
Fundamentally all of those factors have to be managed, and they will need every ounce of the experience that Bruce brings to the table.
It is unfair to judge any manager brought into the situation that Bruce has found himself in - yet.
Some fans have openly criticised him for stating when he arrived that the club should be in the play-offs at the end of the season.
As the weeks rolled by, Bruce saw the cavernous cracks and gaping holes at the club, and he will have known at that point why this job is as big as it is.
He was right to proclaim that the club should be in the playoffs. Everyone would have slammed him if he hadn’t.
Bruce, for all his years in this game, is having to adapt to his surroundings. The end-game will be the same, it just needs a little more time.

That said, Bruce is currently enjoying his highest win ratio since 2001 at a club.
There will of course been better seasons.
The point is that fans have to trust this hugely experienced operator. Fans have taken to social media at times this season to state he is too old school and his methods are dated.
Look at Neil Warnock, Harry Redknapp and Sam Allardyce before you judge too harshly.
Bruce is as relevant now as he ever was in the dugout, and more importantly he has the drive that Villa need.
He also has the decency, personality and principles that this club needs.

Things will take shape in the coming weeks, and when the dust settles, it will be to the benefit of the club.
It is absurd to judge any manager who has been in charge of a new club for just 35 game - judge him at Christmas when Villa are in a much better position than they are now.
That will be halfway through a promotion winning season.
 

[ChicagoLion]

What a complete load of bxxxxxcks.

[Monty]

I...I do not agree with that article.

[paul_e]

I saw that, it's almost as if it's been written by someone who has never watched up play.

[West Derby Villan]

Just seen SB news conference and he looks like he's been battered by Anthony Joshua or a bad car accident.......nothing so dramatic......he had moles surgically removed, (according to meaning evil).........they must have put up a hell of a fight !

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I saw that, it's almost as if it's been written by someone who has never watched up play.

I'm sure he saw the two games against his beloved Wolves.

[AV82EC]

Just seen SB news conference and he looks like he's been battered by Anthony Joshua or a bad car accident.......nothing so dramatic......he had moles surgically removed, (according to meaning evil).........they must have put up a hell of a fight !

 Calling Jasper Carrot to the thread, that's Jasper Carrot to the thread. <bing bong>

[West Derby Villan]

Just seen SB news conference and he looks like he's been battered by Anthony Joshua or a bad car accident.......nothing so dramatic......he had moles surgically removed, (according to meaning evil).........they must have put up a hell of a fight !

 Calling Jasper Carrot to the thread, that's Jasper Carrot to the thread. <bing bong>

That was a brilliant story, didn't the garden end up looking like the Somme?

[old man villa fan]

A long in depth article but in a parallel universe to the reality at Villa this season.

There are many points you could pick up on but taking just one, the players out on loan.  What impact have they had on us this season and what difference will it make by selling/continuing loans (other than a financial one).  If that is the extent of the clear out, what a non-story.

[eamonn]

I remember his first game in charge where Villa players were pressing the opposition all over the pitch and I thought at last a manager has got them committed, it only lasted one game then back to the status quo.

Huh? His first game in charge against Wolves at VP we were bullied time and time again thanks to our non-existent midfield. We somehow managed to sneak a draw.

[TheMalandro]

Just seen SB news conference and he looks like he's been battered by Anthony Joshua or a bad car accident.......nothing so dramatic......he had moles surgically removed, (according to meaning evil).........they must have put up a hell of a fight !

 Calling Jasper Carrot to the thread, that's Jasper Carrot to the thread. <bing bong>

Looks like he's been dehorned.

[john e]

Bruce's record reads 30 odd games all played in exactly the same way ie rubbish

the ones we lost we were rubbish the ones we drew we were rubbish even the ones we won we wernt very good
there is no good or bad form just varying results picked up playing the same crap way every week

the whole thing has been garbage from start to finish, it's an absolute joke that people still think he's the man to lead us next season

i have always held my hands up saying I was always against his appointment from the start but even I thought he would be a lot better than this,
I thought he would at least be good enough to be in the play offs or pushing for them he's been an abject failure in every department so far, every single department,
points, league position,  style, shape, signings, coaching, back room team, entertainment value, fitness, goals scored, substitutions, line ups,

I mean honestly it's pretty obvious the bloke should not be given another season