Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[john e]

I think Snoddgrass, Johnestone, Elmo, Hourihane, Grabban and Bjarnasson have done ok for us. Each to their own if others think they're crap I suppose.

3 of the 6 are loan deals they are not our players I was talking about actual signings that we would be going forward building a team for the top league with

and there isn’t any

 And you're playing by your own rules to suit your argument.

not really
On loan signings are just that loans who eventually go back to the clubs who bought them

anyone can see that surely

Anyone can see that your dislike of Steve Bruce makes it difficult for you to talk about him rationally. We've made five loan signings this season, of which I can see us buying three permanently if we go up. Then there are players who have been signed to egt us up, and would be moved on if we did. It's like saying Graham Taylor was a bad manager because David Hunt wouldn't have been good enough for division one.   

i can see my anti Bruce stance from the beginning colours my opinions but I still don’t think his actual signings have been much good

one or two of his loan deals have been ok but the ones we are saddled with have not been very impressive in general

that’s my bias opinion anyroad

[john e]

I think Snoddgrass, Johnestone, Elmo, Hourihane, Grabban and Bjarnasson have done ok for us. Each to their own if others think they're crap I suppose.

3 of the 6 are loan deals they are not our players I was talking about actual signings that we would be going forward building a team for the top league with

and there isn’t any

You said like the rest of his signings. He signed them on loan. They are one's he's brought in so they count.

Shall we leave it there?

you don’t see any difference between a loan deal and a player thats ours then

I said, i'll leave it there. Like Dave said, you're making it up to suit your own argument so there's no point. Nice try though.

so condescending it’s unreal

[Chris Jameson]

I could see Terry becoming our next manager if and when Bruce departs.

I hope your crystal ball is a faulty one.

[DrGonzo]

So boring it's unreal.  You've both made a point, might the rest of us move on, please?  At least drop the repetitive quotes please it takes ages to scroll past, thanks.

I wonder, as with most clubs these days, how much input our manager has to the actual signings.  Obviously we aren't in a similar situations to a club that has a first team coach and a director of football, but I think that long gone are the days that managers were directly involved in the process of signing a player.  The manager can only provide the board with a list of payers that he'd be interested in, and then it seems to be out of his hands.  My point is we don't know how far down the list these players signed were.  They might have been second or third choice, but in a position in which it was imperative we sign a player.

[brian green]

It's pretty clear that John Terry intends to manage.  To me the whole purpose of coming to Villa was like a whale that swims to the freezing waters of Alaska to slough off all the horrible parasitic life that it was host to in the south.  If he does not manage us he will manage somebody.  Brentford probably when we nick the incumbent.

[Zouch Villa]

I could see Terry becoming our next manager if and when Bruce departs.

I hope your crystal ball is a faulty one.

I’d have no problem with him taking up a coaching position alongside Bruce, who whoever, but he has a little way to go before he can land a gig like Villa manager after half a good season for us.

[Risso]

Hogan has been a dreadful signing. A huge amount wasted on a supremely untalented player.

Disagree Risso, he's a very good centre forward for this level. He needs to be played in a certain way though, not our way, and you could argue that Bruce should have done his homework more. It was probably the one proven CF that was available at the time so he panicked and took the gamble.

He’s a terrible footballer.

[Clampy]

I like Hogan but we did pay far too much for him though.

[Nunkin1965]

It's pretty clear that John Terry intends to manage.  To me the whole purpose of coming to Villa was like a whale that swims to the freezing waters of Alaska to slough off all the horrible parasitic life that it was host to in the south.  If he does not manage us he will manage somebody.  Brentford probably when we nick the incumbent.

If we don’t make it I’d really like to see the Brentford incumbent thing happen.

[paul_e]

Hogan I think is somewhere in the middle, he can be an effective striker but I think he's a poor footballer.  He's clearly not capable of adapting to suit a style that he isn't used to because he doesn't have the technical skills needed.  I wanted to see him with a functioning midfield behind him before I properly judged him and he is better then but, for me, he's still not good enough to be at a club that has serious ambitions to get promotion.

My biggest issue is the number of signings he's made to be 2nd or 3rd choice when we have youngsters in those positions that need game time.  I'd happily see Lansbury, Onomah and Bjarnason taken out of the squad and replaced by O'Hare and Doyle-Hayes, I think Suliman and Mitch Clark offer as much as Samba was ever going to as backup defenders and I'd happily have RHM on the bench ahead of Hogan.

[Chris Jameson]

I like Hogan but we did pay far too much for him though.

West Ham have made some terrible signings and even they backed out at the last minute.

[Ad@m]

Hogan has been a dreadful signing. A huge amount wasted on a supremely untalented player.

Disagree Risso, he's a very good centre forward for this level. He needs to be played in a certain way though, not our way, and you could argue that Bruce should have done his homework more. It was probably the one proven CF that was available at the time so he panicked and took the gamble.

He’s a terrible footballer.

That's demonstrably rubbish. Terrible footballers don't score 21 goals in 32 matches in the best standard 2nd tier in world football.

[paul_e]

Hogan has been a dreadful signing. A huge amount wasted on a supremely untalented player.

Disagree Risso, he's a very good centre forward for this level. He needs to be played in a certain way though, not our way, and you could argue that Bruce should have done his homework more. It was probably the one proven CF that was available at the time so he panicked and took the gamble.

He’s a terrible footballer.

That's demonstrably rubbish. Terrible footballers don't score 21 goals in 32 matches in the best standard 2nd tier in world football.

The flip side is that £12m strikers don't score 5 in 34.

[Ad@m]

They do when they're 5 ft nothing and spend most of those 34 up front on their own trying to do something with long balls punted up to them.

I've said it before but it's like spending £200k on a Ferrari and then complaining about it being rubbish at pulling the plough in your field.

[SoccerHQ]

Hogan is just a poor fit for our style of play. Grabban is much better for that and imo we'd be second now if we'd signed him in August.

Again lack of attention to detail. I still think Bruce just saw a striker scoring loads in the championship and thought he'd do the same here without properly checking what sort of service he needed.