Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[KevinGage]

You're kidding yourself if you don't think Bruce's remit was to aim for promotion this season with the squad he had available and the money spent.

The man himself has said as much. Why else opt for a promotion specialist, when there were younger up and coming managers who might have suited a more organic, long-term approach.

The comments from Dr Xia and Keith Wyness about the two year timescale are similar to what they said vis a vis Di Matteo. I took that as an attempt to not publicly put the man under pressure from the off.

They still made Bobby D walk the plank when our start looked like it had jeopardised our promotion bid this season.

[Virgil Caine]

Could we reset the poll as the three game option has now passed and it would be interesting to see which way the 'floating' voters would go. Although not yet fully convinced I would now vote No.

[john e]

If we play as badly as we have over the past three games and get the same results I'll be a very happy man.

It may not be pretty at times (and let's face it, it really hasn't been), but if it's effective, who cares?

I'd rather win the fucking league than finish 6th and play pretty.

that's fine but it's not been effective has it
we are currently 13th, nearer to the relegation spots than the play off places

if your scenario was working i might be able to see that the eventual outcome was worth it
as it happens we are just playing for pride for the rest of the season because Bruce has failed in what he was bought in to achieve

Who said he was bought in to achieve promotion this season?

Not TZ or KW who have publicly stated same, and while that might be the opinion of those who want rid, one could argue that was an increasingly impossible task given the terrible start to the season, and the squad inherited.

well you for a start
see your post from 2nd of Jan where you were fully expecting us to make the play offs


He's failed and that's the top and bottom of it why don't some of you guys just be honest admit that

[PeterWithesShin]

Could we reset the poll as the three game option has now passed and it would be interesting to see which way the 'floating' voters would go. Although not yet fully convinced I would now vote No.

Rather than keep resetting it, if anybody wants to change their vote they can click on "Remove vote" and they will then have the option to vote again.

[Virgil Caine]

Could we reset the poll as the three game option has now passed and it would be interesting to see which way the 'floating' voters would go. Although not yet fully convinced I would now vote No.

Rather than keep resetting it, if anybody wants to change their vote they can click on "Remove vote" and they will then have the option to vote again.

Thank you PWS- didn't know you could do that

[paul_e]

I think it's fairly obvious that making the playoffs this season was the decisive factor in getting rid of RDM when they did and bringing Bruce in.  I said as much very early in the Bruce threat, giving us a shot at promotion from the playoffs was clearly and the aim and what I thought he should be judged on.  I'm willing to give him a little leeway but top 10 really should be the minimum expectation.

[PeterWithesShin]

It's generally only added to a poll like this where there's a decent chance someone may want to change their original vote.

I'm in the last option, although for me it's to the end of the season rather than 3 games. I'd only have removed him before that if relegation became a serious threat, and i'd only want to keep him if by the end of the season we look capable of finishing in the top 2, which has to be the aim next season.

[Clampy]

I thought we'd make the play offs at the start of the season and despite the bad start under RDM, I thought we'd go on a good run and make them when Bruce came in. Despite the fact that it's looking unlikely that we won't (and in that respect he's failed), I'm still happy to go with Bruce next season.

[ChicagoLion]

For me it was the next 3 games, now it is the rest of the season.
I want to see something more than bludgeoning our way to results.

[tomd2103]

I like Jedinak, he knows what he's there to do and he gets on with it.  I think what people need to realise is that he's effectively an advanced central defender, take him away and one of other defenders has to come out and win those balls and we lose our shape.  What we need to realise though is that if you have him in there you need to compensate by letting other players get further forward.

And that we are unlikely to play a passing game through the midfield. 

[paul_e]

I like Jedinak, he knows what he's there to do and he gets on with it.  I think what people need to realise is that he's effectively an advanced central defender, take him away and one of other defenders has to come out and win those balls and we lose our shape.  What we need to realise though is that if you have him in there you need to compensate by letting other players get further forward.

And that we are unlikely to play a passing game through the midfield.

Why not?  As i said, consider him as a central defender, he's good enough to move the ball on to someone like Lansbury and then he's nothing but an out ball.

[Gregorys Boy]

You're kidding yourself if you don't think Bruce's remit was to aim for promotion this season with the squad he had available and the money spent.

The man himself has said as much. Why else opt for a promotion specialist, when there were younger up and coming managers who might have suited a more organic, long-term approach.

The comments from Dr Xia and Keith Wyness about the two year timescale are similar to what they said vis a vis Di Matteo. I took that as an attempt to not publicly put the man under pressure from the off.

They still made Bobby D walk the plank when our start looked like it had jeopardised our promotion bid this season.

I understand the expectations.  And I dare say that Bruce's remit was the play-offs, but that still doesn't mean that he should get the sack if we don't make them this season.  I believe in building long term.  Its all fine to talk about the squad we have, but one of the mistakes made in the summer was to bring too many in in a short space of time.  Even if all those players are fantastic, when you bring so many in at once then there is going to be a unbalance in the squad and it is going to take a long time for those players to settle in and gel with the other players.  That's one thing, but then when Bruce replaced RDM he had his own ideas, and has signed a number of new players himself, so again its all change.  As long as there is improvement, which there has been I say judge him next season.

I prediction for this season was a 12th place finish.  I'll stick by that.

[Toronto Villa]

The board will need to be 100% sure that Bruce can get us promoted next season. And while no manager truly ever guarantees that Bruce right now will be looking very nervously at his phone thinking a call or text may come, knowing full well that what he has delivered so far is a million miles from acceptable.

[tomd2103]

I like Jedinak, he knows what he's there to do and he gets on with it.  I think what people need to realise is that he's effectively an advanced central defender, take him away and one of other defenders has to come out and win those balls and we lose our shape.  What we need to realise though is that if you have him in there you need to compensate by letting other players get further forward.

And that we are unlikely to play a passing game through the midfield.

Why not?  As i said, consider him as a central defender, he's good enough to move the ball on to someone like Lansbury and then he's nothing but an out ball.

With a three in midfield, the defensive midfielder is the one who gets the ball from the defence in his own half and picks passes from the deeper position.  That allows the other two midfielders to push on a bit and find space a big further up the field.  That just isn't Jedinak's game.  He is very effective defensively in that position and I think he is suited to a more direct style of play, where he is competing for second balls (particularly in the air) in the opposition half and keeping it simple.  He is effective in that role.

[SoccerHQ]

All depends on how we start next season isn't it?

5 games in August I'd imagine like this season.

Something like 10 points and things can roll on from there....we barely had 10 points by start of October which is why RDM had to go.

I don't subscribe to this theory Bruce has to start playing free flowing football to keep his job either...you saw tonight an automatic promotion contender and for the second time this season they were incredibly average against us but they kept us out and at 0-0 had the belief they'd score and win the game.

The championship is more about mentality...sadly we go a goal down and we just give up and lose. The players need to believe they can turn being 1 nil down with 20 minutes left into a 2-1 victory after 95 minutes, Huddersfield and Reading have done that countless times.