Steve Bruce - officially confirmed (as Sheffield Wednesday boss)

[BOB MANSFIELD]

Lee, are you sure you are not reading that 9 upside down ?

I'm sure he's a nine.

[LeeB]

Lee, are you sure you are not reading that 9 upside down ?

I'm sure he's a nine.

Shirt number doesn't indicate shoe size mate.

Remember reading years ago he had unfeasably small feet for someone that kicked a ball so well.

[paul_e]

Its far to early to judge Steve Bruce, his backroom staff etc. 

What is clear  is that he was not satisfied  with the squad he took over.  Yes  he has made one or two surprising selection decisions, he needs the summer to recruit properly and commence on an honest challenge to get us out of this division.

I think this time next year we will be able to honestly assess, up to then got to give him some slack.

I know everyone is desperate to get back to the premiership but not even the likes of Houdini, Uri Geller etc can  force that.  We just need to be patient, otherwise we turn into a circus  like the Leeds  module was until Monk bedded in.

The only problem I have with this is where was this 'we need to give him at least a year' when RDM was around?  I get that Bruce got a bounce and that pulled us into midtable but 14 points from the last 10 games isn't a good record.  I also get that RDM had a full transfer window but I've seen people on here say that the club is in disarray and will take a while to turn around, if that's the case why is RDM a chancer, etc who deserved to go after 2 months?  It just feels like a lot of fans never warmed to RDM so he was crap in everything he did whereas Bruce has said a few nice things and pointed out a few problems and now everyone seems willing to have great patience for him to unveil his masterplan.

I don't even disagree with sacking RDM but I don't see why Bruce's place shouldn't be under threat if we finish in the bottom half, for example.

[BOB MANSFIELD]

Lee, are you sure you are not reading that 9 upside down ?

I'm sure he's a nine.

Shirt number doesn't indicate shoe size mate.

Remember reading years ago he had unfeasably small feet for someone that kicked a ball so well.

" Dear Mr Saunders, could you be so kind as to resolve a question that is perplexing myself and a fellow contributor..........?"

[SheffieldVillain]

Its far to early to judge Steve Bruce, his backroom staff etc. 

What is clear  is that he was not satisfied  with the squad he took over.  Yes  he has made one or two surprising selection decisions, he needs the summer to recruit properly and commence on an honest challenge to get us out of this division.

I think this time next year we will be able to honestly assess, up to then got to give him some slack.

I know everyone is desperate to get back to the premiership but not even the likes of Houdini, Uri Geller etc can  force that.  We just need to be patient, otherwise we turn into a circus  like the Leeds  module was until Monk bedded in.

The only problem I have with this is where was this 'we need to give him at least a year' when RDM was around?  I get that Bruce got a bounce and that pulled us into midtable but 14 points from the last 10 games isn't a good record.  I also get that RDM had a full transfer window but I've seen people on here say that the club is in disarray and will take a while to turn around, if that's the case why is RDM a chancer, etc who deserved to go after 2 months?  It just feels like a lot of fans never warmed to RDM so he was crap in everything he did whereas Bruce has said a few nice things and pointed out a few problems and now everyone seems willing to have great patience for him to unveil his masterplan.

I don't even disagree with sacking RDM but I don't see why Bruce's place should be under threat if we finish in the bottom half, for example.

Isn't it more that Bruce seems to have identified where the problems are, even if he hasn't fully resolved all of them. That in itself is a modicum of progress. Whereas Di Matteo (who I was in favour of employing) actually created more problems by buying in such an unbalanced fashion and showed no real signs of having identified any of the issues from last season. Also Bruce seems to care about his work, whereas Di Matteo quite frankly came over (whether it was true or not) of not really giving a stuff either way. That might just be down to personality of course but is bound to buy him more time. Part of  any managers job is to manage relationships with all involved - players, board and fans, and Bruce is simply better at this than RDM. Also, Bruce has won 47% of his games as opposed to 8%. That probably buys a bit more belief as well...!

[paul_e]

Its far to early to judge Steve Bruce, his backroom staff etc. 

What is clear  is that he was not satisfied  with the squad he took over.  Yes  he has made one or two surprising selection decisions, he needs the summer to recruit properly and commence on an honest challenge to get us out of this division.

I think this time next year we will be able to honestly assess, up to then got to give him some slack.

I know everyone is desperate to get back to the premiership but not even the likes of Houdini, Uri Geller etc can  force that.  We just need to be patient, otherwise we turn into a circus  like the Leeds  module was until Monk bedded in.

The only problem I have with this is where was this 'we need to give him at least a year' when RDM was around?  I get that Bruce got a bounce and that pulled us into midtable but 14 points from the last 10 games isn't a good record.  I also get that RDM had a full transfer window but I've seen people on here say that the club is in disarray and will take a while to turn around, if that's the case why is RDM a chancer, etc who deserved to go after 2 months?  It just feels like a lot of fans never warmed to RDM so he was crap in everything he did whereas Bruce has said a few nice things and pointed out a few problems and now everyone seems willing to have great patience for him to unveil his masterplan.

I don't even disagree with sacking RDM but I don't see why Bruce's place should shouldn't be under threat if we finish in the bottom half, for example.

Isn't it more that Bruce seems to have identified where the problems are, even if he hasn't fully resolved all of them. That in itself is a modicum of progress. Whereas Di Matteo (who I was in favour of employing) actually created more problems by buying in such an unbalanced fashion and showed no real signs of having identified any of the issues from last season. Also Bruce seems to care about his work, whereas Di Matteo quite frankly came over (whether it was true or not) of not really giving a stuff either way. That might just be down to personality of course but is bound to buy him more time. Part of  any managers job is to manage relationships with all involved - players, board and fans, and Bruce is simply better at this than RDM. Also, Bruce has won 47% of his games as opposed to 8%. That probably buys a bit more belief as well...!

I don't disagree, as I say I think sacking RDM when we did was harsh but understandable.  My point is that I've seen lots of comments about needing 12-18 months and I just think that's naive.  If we don't win another game until March (for example) then Bruce will be in just as poor a position as RDM.  The nature of the job is that you're only as safe as your last handful of games and Bruce needs a win or 2 quickly to get back on track, right now we're 3 games into our run of 6 winnable games in a row and we've got a point from them.


oh and in the original post i've fixed the obvious typo.

[Chris Harte]

Roberto di Matteo - 1 win in eleven games.
Steve Bruce - 7 wins in sixteen games.

For me there is no comparison between the two.

[chrisw1]

Roberto di Matteo - 1 win in eleven games.
Steve Bruce - 7 wins in sixteen games.

For me there is no comparison between the two.

Both achieved with RDM's team.

[Chris Harte]

Roberto di Matteo - 1 win in eleven games.
Steve Bruce - 7 wins in sixteen games.

For me there is no comparison between the two.

Both achieved with RDM's team.

And imagine what Bruce could achieve with his own team.

[kippaxvilla2]

Good on ya Brucie.

Steve Bruce is angry at McCormack for his conduct
"Unless his attitude to work changes, I'm going to pick people who really want to turn up and play.

"If it repeatedly happens, I won't put up with it. If I do, I'll have the lunatics running the asylum. If I let people do what they want, we'll have anarchy."

Asked why McCormack keeps skipping training, Bruce replied: "The gates were stuck."

Bruce has denied interest in Burnley striker Ashley Barnes

Reports say Bruce has photographed McCormack's house to prove he could get out of his gates. McCormack now faces a fine for missing training.

"He will be fined, yes," said Bruce. "It's not like I'm asking them to play at the North Pole. We come in for 9.30am and start training and 10.30am each day."

Bruce denied interest in Burnley's Ashley Barnes but wants a new striker, adding: "My bid for Jordan Rhodes was turned down and we won't be going back to it. But we might have the new Thierry Henry coming in on loan this week."

[cdbearsfan]

Is the last bit a joke or are we really getting a forward in?

[PeterWithesShin]

Local rag

Steve Bruce is still hoping to sign a new striker and today joked that “Thierry Henry No.2 could be on his way!”

The Aston Villa manager was trying to make light news of the worrying situation surrounding his strikeforce.

With Ross McCormack axed for failing to turn up to training, Jonathan Kodjia and Jordan Ayew away on international duty and Gabby Agbonlahor without a goal in almost a year, Villa are short of options up front.

But Bruce said with a wry smile: “We might have the new Thierry Henry coming in on loan next week.”

Villa are looking at options after missing out on Jordan Rhodes.

They had a £6million bid rejected last week and are unlikely to go back in for the Middlesbrough striker.

Burnley’s Ashley Barnes is also unlikely to be pursued either and while a number of Premier League clubs have turned down loan approaches for their forwards, Villa could still pull something off in the next ten days.

[cdbearsfan]

Have Arsenal got any decent kids? I seem to remember Bruce regularly loaning their players when he was down the road.

[robbo1874]

Was Forsell on loan at Blues or was he a permanent signing? He was actually a decent player for them. One of the few players from them
That would've improved our side

[cdbearsfan]

According to Wikipedia, he had two loan spells at The Sty before signing permanently for £3 million.