Next Villa manager

[kippaxvilla2]

Bruce's odds have come right in apparently.  Get the deal done now Villa. 

[Stirchley Villain]

I'd have Bruce would be ideal to work with the squad. Strikes me as a keep it simple pragmatist.

Pop a system and an attacking structure onto the firepower we have and we're likely to make the play offs.

Yeah, that's pretty much my take on it. I know long term etc... but long term we've been fucking shit, and I'm so frazzled by it all that I'm only interested in sorting the fucking short term out for now.

But will the Doc feel the same? He hasn't had to live through the same unrelenting misery that we have, he's the fresh faced new kid so will he be interested in pragmatic, short term solutions? 

Why is there such a certainty that Bruce is a pragmatic choice?

Who in your opinion would be a more pragmatic choice?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

If Randy Lerner was still the owner and was about to appoint Bruce as manager, I'd imagine this place and others would be in meltdown.

I'd rather stick with Clarke than go with SFB.

[PeterWithesShin]

If Randy Lerner was still the owner and was about to appoint Bruce as manager, I'd imagine this place and others would be in meltdown.

I'd rather stick with Clarke than go with SFB.

You love Steve Fabulous Bruce really.

[paul_e]

I'd have Bruce would be ideal to work with the squad. Strikes me as a keep it simple pragmatist.

Pop a system and an attacking structure onto the firepower we have and we're likely to make the play offs.

Yeah, that's pretty much my take on it. I know long term etc... but long term we've been fucking shit, and I'm so frazzled by it all that I'm only interested in sorting the fucking short term out for now.

But will the Doc feel the same? He hasn't had to live through the same unrelenting misery that we have, he's the fresh faced new kid so will he be interested in pragmatic, short term solutions? 

Why is there such a certainty that Bruce is a pragmatic choice?

Who in your opinion would be a more pragmatic choice?

Honestly I don't know I'm just not sure that 'out of work and has managed in the championship' is recruitment strategy we should be following if we plan to be the best team in the world in 5 years.  I do totally get the idea of caring about the short term right now but I just think doing it without an eye on the long term would be a really silly idea and I just don't see a long term strategy that Bruce fits into.

[Villafirst]

If Randy Lerner was still the owner and was about to appoint Bruce as manager, I'd imagine this place and others would be in meltdown.

I'd rather stick with Clarke than go with SFB.

No way. Clarke is already there and the coaching and tactics are there for all to see. Abysmal.

[Pete3206]

If Randy Lerner was still the owner and was about to appoint Bruce as manager, I'd imagine this place and others would be in meltdown.

I'd rather stick with Clarke than go with SFB.

No way. Clarke is already there and the coaching and tactics are there for all to see. Abysmal.

Plus Clarke never leaves the bench. At least with Bruce, we'd have the amusing site of a human space hopper bouncing around on the touchline.

[Tony Erdington]

ooh I don't know, reminds of that bird from coronation st, get a grip, its not short term its not the long game,

its the here and now, and Bruce is the man, as George best would say or someone with a name like that.


GET WITH THE WINNING TEAM!!!! (CRULAK)

[The Left Side]

If Randy Lerner was still the owner and was about to appoint Bruce as manager, I'd imagine this place and others would be in meltdown.

I'd rather stick with Clarke than go with SFB.

No way. Clarke is already there and the coaching and tactics are there for all to see. Abysmal.

Plus Clarke never leaves the bench. At least with Bruce, we'd have the amusing site of a human space hopper bouncing around on the touchline.

That made me laugh out loud, very good Pete.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Potato Heads Claret and Blue Armeee !

[Tony Erdington]

Big fat steves claret and blue army

[Louzie0]

I'd really like to know who the ten names on the list are. At least 6 of those in the poll aren't on it, according to ITK sources in the press.
I have sympathy with those on here who aren't very excited at the prospect of Steve Bruce taking over, but maybe it's a question of perspective. A Liverpool fan I work with is very surprised that we're not thrilled with the prospect of Clarke in control.

[pauliewalnuts]

Mrs Doubtfire's claret and blue army!

[Tony Erdington]

I'd really like to know who the ten names on the list are. At least 6 of those in the poll aren't on it, according to ITK sources in the press.
I have sympathy with those on here who aren't very excited at the prospect of Steve Bruce taking over, but maybe it's a question of perspective. A Liverpool fan I work with is very surprised that we're not thrilled with the prospect of Clarke in control.

good one diverpool fan darn souf best place for them.

[damon loves JT]

I think I've lost interest in this subject so comprehensively these last few years that I'd be quite happy to take Rowett purely on the basis it'd piss the knuckle draggers off.

That's what I never got with the "it's just because he managed Blues" thing about McLeish. It wasn't that. It was that he was a proven failure who played godawful football. If he'd been a decent manager, the fact we'd taken him from Small Heath would have been a BONUS.

This, this, this. I think you'd either have to be spectacularly, Earth-stoppingly thick, deluded or a knuckledragger, or a mix of all three (which is quite common) to believe otherwise.

Because when the ancient Romans sacked Carthage in 150 BC, they destroyed the city of their ancient rivals, but refused to plunder all their treasure, jewels, riches and women because they hated them so much. All throughout history there have been cases where people would rather die and go to hell than accept valuable assets from their most hated foes.

And thus, if Birmingham City were to drive an articulated lorry full of Faberge eggs, gold ingots, lost masterpieces by the likes of Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Caravaggio and Picasso, the Holy Grail itself, plus the skeleton of Jesus Christ, into Villa Park, we would duly set fire to it because we couldn't stand to accept such priceless artefacts from them because we don't like them very much and they smell.

But Gary Rowett won't come because he's got more sense, so Bruce it is. I suspect he'll be judged on how good/shit he is.

The Romans sacked the living shit out of Carthage and Corinth in the same year, 146 BC.

The sack of Carthage is one of the few examples in history where the Roman's actually sacked a city taken under siege.

The raped, pillaged and leveled the place, taking 50 thousand slaves in the bargain and absorbed Carthaginian territory into Roman dominion. They hated them and took everything from them.

It was a violation of their most sacred oaths to protect the city following the second Punic war. It was a terrible betrayal prompted by fear and jealousy, and a source of great shame to many Romans.

modern equivalent would be us watching the German economy recover after WWII, re-occupying the country and flattening it. That level of bad faith.