Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[Risso]

Particularly at this club, where in recent years changing managers has often coincided with things getting worse.

Which one(s) do you feel we should have stuck with longer?

Houlier, Garde and maybe even RDM for me

I was at RDM's last game in charge, away at Preston.  It was just about the worst combination of performance, team selection and tactics I can remember seeing.  A truly shocking display.

[Ads]

Ah the Lambert model 4 1 5 formation.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Particularly at this club, where in recent years changing managers has often coincided with things getting worse.

Which one(s) do you feel we should have stuck with longer?

I have far too much respect for Chris to mention his undying support for DOL. May be he was right, given the time and budget he would have sorted us out but I guess we'll never know. I fully get the need for stability but not at any price. I'm just tired of us hiring shite managers. It's the most important job at any club, we just need to get lucky one.

One day, hopefully in the not too distant future we'll ALL reflect back and think what the hell were the board thinking hiring X, Y and Zzzz. It's the kids that have only been following us for a decade or two that I feel sorry for. They know no different.

[KRS]

Having just read the last 5 or 6 pages of this Bruce out debate, the funny thing is that Bruce and the media will all be thinking that his job is currently as safe as houses after the last 3 results...I'm sure Bruce would come out with quite a few more cynical sound bites if he knew this thread had steam rolled its way past 350 pages long.

[Ad@m]

Particularly at this club, where in recent years changing managers has often coincided with things getting worse.

Which one(s) do you feel we should have stuck with longer?

Houlier, Garde and maybe even RDM for me

I was at RDM's last game in charge, away at Preston.  It was just about the worst combination of performance, team selection and tactics I can remember seeing.  A truly shocking display.

That was the thing with RDM - the majority of games we hammered the opposition with some really good stuff and then chucked it away in the last five minutes.  If he'd stuck to his guns and managed to sort the defence out (and got luckier in front of goal) I'm convinced he'd have got us promoted and it would've been fun to watch.

Instead, he had a complete mental breakdown and lost the plot in his final two games.  You'd have thought someone who'd managed a team to a European Cup win would be able to handle pressure but the way his tenure ended suggested it all got too much for him.

[mr underhill]

so he wasn't the right man - if he couldn't handle the pressure of as few games in the chumps he was never going to get us out of it - as his results proved.

[olaftab]

Having just read the last 5 or 6 pages of this Bruce out debate, the funny thing is that Bruce and the media will all be thinking that his job is currently as safe as houses after the last 3 results...I'm sure Bruce would come out with quite a few more cynical sound bites if he knew this thread had steam rolled its way past 350 pages long.

I am sure Bruce has neither the time or the inclination to read fan message boards and I don't think he should. He is hopefully a professional who knows what needs to be done and won't be swayed by people pissing in his ear. However that's some hope😟

[Chris Smith]

Particularly at this club, where in recent years changing managers has often coincided with things getting worse.

Which one(s) do you feel we should have stuck with longer?

It hardly mattered as whatever we did we got steadily worse, 3 years or 6 months in charge and the net result was the same resulting in an inevitable relegation and then following it up with the laissez faire RDM. It is ironic that a club so inconsistent in everything else managed to consistently pick the wrong manager.

The club have given Bruce the tools to do the job, it is now up to him to use them appropriately. If not then, to coin a phrase, we go again.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Particularly at this club, where in recent years changing managers has often coincided with things getting worse.

Which one(s) do you feel we should have stuck with longer?

It hardly mattered as whatever we did we got steadily worse, 3 years or 6 months in charge and the net result was the same resulting in an inevitable relegation and then following it up with the laissez faire RDM. It is ironic that a club so inconsistent in everything else managed to consistently pick the wrong manager.

The club have given Bruce the tools to do the job, it is now up to him to use them appropriately. If not then, to coin a phrase, we go again.

Pretty much. Its hard to imagine us making worse (and as expensive) choices. Amazing really.

[old man villa fan]

Particularly at this club, where in recent years changing managers has often coincided with things getting worse.

Which one(s) do you feel we should have stuck with longer?

It hardly mattered as whatever we did we got steadily worse, 3 years or 6 months in charge and the net result was the same resulting in an inevitable relegation and then following it up with the laissez faire RDM. It is ironic that a club so inconsistent in everything else managed to consistently pick the wrong manager.

The club have given Bruce the tools to do the job, it is now up to him to use them appropriately. If not then, to coin a phrase, we go again.

The reason I think we have constantly failed with managers over recent years is that the Club hasn't had a strong plan and selected a manager accordingly.  It seems as though it has been get a manager in and let him sort it.  In Lerner's years you would put that down to weak football knowledge in the senior management team.  Also, I think there have been too many people thinking short term about themselves rather than long term for the club.

[Nelly]

I agree with that OMVF. Which is why I got excited when Houllier was spoken of for a Director of Football role - finally a consistent plan and an ethos.

Wyness has spoken of instilling something like this - a football philosophy, I wonder how he feels we're getting along with it.

[Clampy]

Particularly at this club, where in recent years changing managers has often coincided with things getting worse.

Which one(s) do you feel we should have stuck with longer?

It hardly mattered as whatever we did we got steadily worse, 3 years or 6 months in charge and the net result was the same resulting in an inevitable relegation and then following it up with the laissez faire RDM. It is ironic that a club so inconsistent in everything else managed to consistently pick the wrong manager.

The club have given Bruce the tools to do the job, it is now up to him to use them appropriately. If not then, to coin a phrase, we go again.

The reason I think we have constantly failed with managers over recent years is that the Club hasn't had a strong plan and selected a manager accordingly.  It seems as though it has been get a manager in and let him sort it.  In Lerner's years you would put that down to weak football knowledge in the senior management team.  Also, I think there have been too many people thinking short term about themselves rather than long term for the club.

This is one of the reason's why I didn't want us to boot Bruce out after a few months. Whilst he might not everyone's cup of tea (which is an understatement), picking a manager, sticking with him and working with him was for me what was needed.

[Chris Smith]

Particularly at this club, where in recent years changing managers has often coincided with things getting worse.

Which one(s) do you feel we should have stuck with longer?

It hardly mattered as whatever we did we got steadily worse, 3 years or 6 months in charge and the net result was the same resulting in an inevitable relegation and then following it up with the laissez faire RDM. It is ironic that a club so inconsistent in everything else managed to consistently pick the wrong manager.

The club have given Bruce the tools to do the job, it is now up to him to use them appropriately. If not then, to coin a phrase, we go again.

The reason I think we have constantly failed with managers over recent years is that the Club hasn't had a strong plan and selected a manager accordingly.  It seems as though it has been get a manager in and let him sort it.  In Lerner's years you would put that down to weak football knowledge in the senior management team.  Also, I think there have been too many people thinking short term about themselves rather than long term for the club.

I agree with that. At least now there appears to be a plan and a structure so if/when Bruce goes the next man should, in theory, have a framework to work within.

[itbrvilla]

Particularly at this club, where in recent years changing managers has often coincided with things getting worse.

Which one(s) do you feel we should have stuck with longer?

It hardly mattered as whatever we did we got steadily worse, 3 years or 6 months in charge and the net result was the same resulting in an inevitable relegation and then following it up with the laissez faire RDM. It is ironic that a club so inconsistent in everything else managed to consistently pick the wrong manager.

The club have given Bruce the tools to do the job, it is now up to him to use them appropriately. If not then, to coin a phrase, we go again.

The reason I think we have constantly failed with managers over recent years is that the Club hasn't had a strong plan and selected a manager accordingly.  It seems as though it has been get a manager in and let him sort it.  In Lerner's years you would put that down to weak football knowledge in the senior management team.  Also, I think there have been too many people thinking short term about themselves rather than long term for the club.

I agree with that. At least now there appears to be a plan and a structure so if/when Bruce goes the next man should, in theory, have a framework to work within.

I don't see any plan. Just clowns spunking money over and over again.

[Risso]

Particularly at this club, where in recent years changing managers has often coincided with things getting worse.

Which one(s) do you feel we should have stuck with longer?

It hardly mattered as whatever we did we got steadily worse, 3 years or 6 months in charge and the net result was the same resulting in an inevitable relegation and then following it up with the laissez faire RDM. It is ironic that a club so inconsistent in everything else managed to consistently pick the wrong manager.

The club have given Bruce the tools to do the job, it is now up to him to use them appropriately. If not then, to coin a phrase, we go again.

The reason I think we have constantly failed with managers over recent years is that the Club hasn't had a strong plan and selected a manager accordingly.  It seems as though it has been get a manager in and let him sort it.  In Lerner's years you would put that down to weak football knowledge in the senior management team.  Also, I think there have been too many people thinking short term about themselves rather than long term for the club.

I agree with that. At least now there appears to be a plan and a structure so if/when Bruce goes the next man should, in theory, have a framework to work within.

What is the plan and structure you think is there, as I'm genuinely baffled by that.  On the playing level, we don't have a recognizable style or ethos, and most of the signings in Elmo, Whelan and Terry are old stop-gaps at the end of their career.  At the business level, I can't see any evidence that anybody is planning for the future or really knows what they're doing, so what is it that I'm missing?