Steve Bruce - officially confirmed (as Sheffield Wednesday boss)

[old man villa fan]

I think the season so far has been a reality check for many fans.  There were many comments during the summer about this or that player being good enough for the Championship.  To be honest, I thought Gardner would be ok but he has really struggled for one reason or another.  It is clear that more of the players that have been around a few years should have been moved on.

It was an interesting comment by Bruce about players not playing how he wanted them to play.  Bruce is a fairly strong character and he has been known to get the best out of moderate resources, so why aren't they following directions.  Something is not right because Bruce is a better manager than he is showing at the moment and a number of players are better than they are showing.

[brian green]

Steve Bruce's position is rock solid as indeed it should be.  What is happening is inevitable.  We will go back up but it will be ground out a game at a time, a point at a time.  We were so bad in the Premiership we were never going to soar back in a blaze of heart stopping football.  Steve Bruce will do the job but it will be thud and blunder all the way.  I have no problem with that.  As Mrs Beaton's recipe for jugged hare stated. First catch your hare.

[manic-road]

Now that Phelan has been sacked by Hull I wonder if he will team up with Bruce again as coach at the Villa?

[andyaston]

Bruce is the man for the job. We have gained more points in 3 months under him than we did in the previous 48 games beforehand. He has had to pick up a squad we no confidence, an awful midfield and a poorly organised defence, so to get us into the position we are he has done well.

He will bring his own players in eventually then, we can see how things develop. All Bluenoses wish they had him back in a heartbeat, England were sniffing around him and most people who he has managed only have good things to say about him. Therefore give the man time. Also, I don't mind winning ugly, sod entertaining draws.

[cdward]

Bruce's points per game is 1.7 since he came in. If we had been performing at that level for the first eleven games we would be on 42 points now, and in the play offs.
We will improve, the play off places are a realistic target.

As an aside I am enjoying watching the meltdown at the bottom of the PL with changing managers, and us not being involved, I much prefer the situation we are in now.

[kippaxvilla2]

If Bruce ends up being hounded out just because he hasn't got us into the top six within three months of arriving after literally years of decay then for the first time in a long time I will mightily down and pissed off.

That's almost as if you couldn't be bothered to read anything anyone has posted and you've decided to just assume that anyone who's a bit unhappy is calling for him to go when pretty much no one has even suggested it other than the people who are, like you, complaining about it.

Given that people are already pissed off at his so called style of play - having obtained 25 points in the process how long will it be before people are calling for his head? 

[paul_e]

If Bruce ends up being hounded out just because he hasn't got us into the top six within three months of arriving after literally years of decay then for the first time in a long time I will mightily down and pissed off.

That's almost as if you couldn't be bothered to read anything anyone has posted and you've decided to just assume that anyone who's a bit unhappy is calling for him to go when pretty much no one has even suggested it other than the people who are, like you, complaining about it.

Given that people are already pissed off at his so called style of play - having obtained 25 points in the process how long will it be before people are calling for his head? 

Who knows, people aren't calling for his head and your saying you'll be pissed off if people calling for his head force him out, it's not happening BUT it is possible to have concerns that we haven't played well and really want him to do something about it so that he can do a better job.

[pbavfckuwait]

Once he has brought some of his own players in and that will take more than one window and then got rid somehow of the dross that has stank Villa Park out for way to long, it will be interesting to see what sort of formation, style he does introduce.
We all have our perceived ideas on what he has done prior to his arrival at B6, but I also think he knows this is a totally different club, with certain ingrained expectations, regardless of how these have been downgraded over the last 6 years plus. I hope he gets the time but this is football so we will see.
At the moment he has to do as best he can with the limited ability of the resources at hand, good luck with that Stevie boy.

[Diablo]

Now that Phelan has been sacked by Hull I wonder if he will team up with Bruce again as coach at the Villa?

The same thought crossed my mind.

[chrisw1]

Now that Phelan has been sacked by Hull I wonder if he will team up with Bruce again as coach at the Villa?

The same thought crossed my mind.

And bring Snodgrass with him please.  I know some PL clubs will be in for him and at 29 he will prob decide he's too old to piss about for a couple of years down here, but would be an excellent buy for us if he could be persuaded £££

[Bad English]

How he thought that Gary Gardner and Ashley Westwood would be able to boss midfield against a Neil Warnock side is one of those things that can only be understood by football professionals

Bruce needs to get a fucking grip

Two quotes saying roughly the same thing, neither of them calling for his head. One   quote is more reasoned and useful than the other. I am bored.

[Jimbo]

The miasma of underachievement still hangs thick in the dank corners of Villa Park, and it looks like Steve Bruce walked straight into a cloud of it.

The giant soft-play area that is VP and Bodymoor Heath has lulled many a player into a kind of fugue state, which dulls his wits and gives him the pleasant sensation that all his needs are now taken care of come what may. This dreamlike stasis makes players believe they can coast along in an untouchable state of blissful wellbeing until such time as their multi-million pound contract finally runs out (or until they are inexplicably offered a new one). They know it will never get better than this, and they're determined to kick back and enjoy it. After all, they've made it now.

Ross McCormack is the latest to succumb to this strange malady. He looks more suited to a teddy bear onesie and a settee than a Villa kit and a football pitch. The days of hard graft are now behind him. He knows it will never get any better than this.

Too many players, it seems, have believed it possible to make the club work for them, rather than the other way around. And so it has been for the likes of Stephen Ireland, Charles N'Zogbia, Gabby Agbonlahor...

With all that comes an arrogance - still - that makes a few players believe they are somehow above having to compete, fight and scrap for every available point. To learn their role in the team and stick to it. To function as a footballer. And any manager - whether he looks like Antonio Conte, or a man with a potato for a head - will have his work cut out eradicating the disease.

Give the poor bastard a break.   

[Diablo]

The miasma of underachievement still hangs thick in the dank corners of Villa Park, and it looks like Steve Bruce walked straight into a cloud of it.

The giant soft-play area that is VP and Bodymoor Heath has lulled many a player into a kind of fugue state, which dulls his wits and gives him the pleasant sensation that all his needs are now taken care of come what may. This dreamlike stasis makes players believe they can coast along in an untouchable state of blissful wellbeing until such time as their multi-million pound contract finally runs out (or until they are inexplicably offered a new one). They know it will never get better than this, and they're determined to kick back and enjoy it. After all, they've made it now.

Ross McCormack is the latest to succumb to this strange malady. He looks more suited to a teddy bear onesie and a settee than a Villa kit and a football pitch. The days of hard graft are now behind him. He knows it will never get any better than this.

Too many players, it seems, have believed it possible to make the club work for them, rather than the other way around. And so it has been for the likes of Stephen Ireland, Charles N'Zogbia, Gabby Agbonlahor...

With all that comes an arrogance - still - that makes a few players believe they are somehow above having to compete, fight and scrap for every available point. To learn their role in the team and stick to it. To function as a footballer. And any manager - whether he looks like Antonio Conte, or a man with a potato for a head - will have his work cut out eradicating the disease.

Give the poor bastard a break.   

Haha! Superb! If only it wasn't so true.

[chrisw1]

The miasma of underachievement still hangs thick in the dank corners of Villa Park, and it looks like Steve Bruce walked straight into a cloud of it.

The giant soft-play area that is VP and Bodymoor Heath has lulled many a player into a kind of fugue state, which dulls his wits and gives him the pleasant sensation that all his needs are now taken care of come what may. This dreamlike stasis makes players believe they can coast along in an untouchable state of blissful wellbeing until such time as their multi-million pound contract finally runs out (or until they are inexplicably offered a new one). They know it will never get better than this, and they're determined to kick back and enjoy it. After all, they've made it now.

Ross McCormack is the latest to succumb to this strange malady. He looks more suited to a teddy bear onesie and a settee than a Villa kit and a football pitch. The days of hard graft are now behind him. He knows it will never get any better than this.

Too many players, it seems, have believed it possible to make the club work for them, rather than the other way around. And so it has been for the likes of Stephen Ireland, Charles N'Zogbia, Gabby Agbonlahor...

With all that comes an arrogance - still - that makes a few players believe they are somehow above having to compete, fight and scrap for every available point. To learn their role in the team and stick to it. To function as a footballer. And any manager - whether he looks like Antonio Conte, or a man with a potato for a head - will have his work cut out eradicating the disease.

Give the poor bastard a break.   

I'm sorry but this post is just full of utter bollocks and hyperbole.  We have had several shit players and a few bad eggs, but mainly a shit owner and a few shit managers. 

How do you know how hard McCormack is working?  Wasn't he set back by injury?

There is no mystery disease, gypsy curse or cancer.  Just some terrible management decisions and catastrophic loss of form and confidence which Bruce is slowly trying to sort out.

I agree he should be given a break.  The rest of the post is just melodramatic nonsense.

[Jimbo]

The miasma of underachievement still hangs thick in the dank corners of Villa Park, and it looks like Steve Bruce walked straight into a cloud of it.

The giant soft-play area that is VP and Bodymoor Heath has lulled many a player into a kind of fugue state, which dulls his wits and gives him the pleasant sensation that all his needs are now taken care of come what may. This dreamlike stasis makes players believe they can coast along in an untouchable state of blissful wellbeing until such time as their multi-million pound contract finally runs out (or until they are inexplicably offered a new one). They know it will never get better than this, and they're determined to kick back and enjoy it. After all, they've made it now.

Ross McCormack is the latest to succumb to this strange malady. He looks more suited to a teddy bear onesie and a settee than a Villa kit and a football pitch. The days of hard graft are now behind him. He knows it will never get any better than this.

Too many players, it seems, have believed it possible to make the club work for them, rather than the other way around. And so it has been for the likes of Stephen Ireland, Charles N'Zogbia, Gabby Agbonlahor...

With all that comes an arrogance - still - that makes a few players believe they are somehow above having to compete, fight and scrap for every available point. To learn their role in the team and stick to it. To function as a footballer. And any manager - whether he looks like Antonio Conte, or a man with a potato for a head - will have his work cut out eradicating the disease.

Give the poor bastard a break.   

I'm sorry but this post is just full of utter bollocks and hyperbole.  We have had several shit players and a few bad eggs, but mainly a shit owner and a few shit managers. 

How do you know how hard McCormack is working?  Wasn't he set back by injury?

There is no mystery disease, gypsy curse or cancer.  Just some terrible management decisions and catastrophic loss of form and confidence which Bruce is slowly trying to sort out.

I agree he should be given a break.  The rest of the post is just melodramatic nonsense.

Can you give me a few moments while I think about what's wrong with fat Ross McCormack, and I'll get back to you.