Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[Mossie Hennebry]

If Brucey gets us up, he more than deserves a crack at the PL. The whole club will be getting a lift and he deserves all the luck that goes with that.

[mr underhill]

I agree and if that happens it will be a tremendous achievement, given that the only thing he's really thinking of at the moment is the loss of both his parents in a matter of months.

[SoccerHQ]

Said before but wouldn't shock me if he steps down in a few weeks regardless of whether we go up or not.

Last few months have been a huge strain on him. Holloway stepped down at QPR today after one of his parents passed away apparently. All the pressures of football management with that on top is very tough to handle.

It is being reported that Hollowanker was sacked - apologies if it was due to being a death in the family

It was reported a week or so ago his Mum had passed away. Holloway quoted as saying this was his most difficult season in Football which is odd considering some of the clubs he's worked for.

QPR been playing well last few months and finished season strongly.

[Drummond]

I want him as our manager next season whatever happens on 26th.

He's building a team, a spirit and an ethic that is just what we need.

[kipeye]

I want him as our manager next season whatever happens on 26th.

He's building a team, a spirit and an ethic that is just what we need.

I have come round to this view, too.

[aldridgeboy]

I agree. It’s been frustrating at times, and his defence minded attitude can be really annoying, but he’s got us “ there or there abouts”.
If we could get Pep, Arsene or Jose, then great, get rid of him If we don’t go up.

But we can’t , and I’d rather Bruce than an Allardyce or even Moyes. He knows this division and what is required.

Would he cut it in the premier if we go up? I personally doubt it, but he will have earned his chance if he gets us there 

[robleflaneur]

Bruce appears to be a very likeable person and has gone through a horrible period in his personal life.However,even if he guides us past Fulham,I don't think he is good enough to remain as Villa manager.Last night summed up for me Bruce's football.Bypass midfield,midfield seems a mystery to Bruce, and welly the ball up to Grabban.With quality midfielders in Grealish and Snodgrass and pace and skill upfront in Grabban or Kodjia assisted by Adomah,the importance of pass and move,ball retention was paramount.Instead ,his tactics managed to quieten a crowd that was willing to break all decibel records.
Yes,we stifled Boro by sitting deep,but we allowed them lots of possession and we were one good cross,one good shot,not to mention a sending off,from going into a lottery of extra time or penalties.Without the ball,Boro's main threat,Traore,would have been extinguished anyway and I think their defence,in fact the whole team,looked far less competent than ours.

[paul_e]

If our idea of defensive football was always to play like we did in the 2nd half last night I'd be ok with it, we took no risks (beyond a bit of stupidity by Johnstone) and we kept them from flooding forward by closing them in their own half and breaking with pace and, importantly, didn't just give the ball back to them every time we won it.  I have nothing against playing defensively but not when it means 1 guy up front and 9 players defending the box because that just doesn't work very often and becomes less and less effective as you go up the leagues.  If we'd played like that more often, and still had the sprinkling of superb performances we've seen, then I'd have no problems with Bruce.  The trouble is we've all seen too many games where it's like the first half where we're just 15-20 yards too deep and can't get our attacking players into the game, those are the games that have always put me off him because there's just too many of them across the season.

[robleflaneur]

Certainly,we were far better in the second half but the substitution of Hourihane by Whelan signalled an unnecessary siege mentality .Bringing on Barney or Onomah would have meant greater physicality but also a willingness to play in Boro's half .

[LeeB]

I want him as our manager next season whatever happens on 26th.

He's building a team, a spirit and an ethic that is just what we need.

Absolutely.

[Monty]

I'm still really unsure about him in the top-flight. He strikes me as the managerial equivalent of Elmo or someone - too good for the Championship, but with a great big question mark over them in the Premier League.

Nevertheless he's definitely gone up in my estimation this year. Yes he's frustrating, yes he has his limits, and yes he's defensive, but he's actually very good at being defensive - which is miles and miles better than your average rubbish jobs-for-the-boys British manager (Alan 'Oh Fuck' Pardew etc). The idea of Hutton floating around to follow Adama was particularly impressive.

[kieron]

At this stage how can anyone be "unsure" about Steve being our manager in the top flight, if we get there? We were the third highest scorers in the Championship. Bruce should not be defined on here as 'defensive'.

He hasn't actually even managed Aston Villa in the top flight yet, but he's built a formula for our team that works and IS working, both on AND off the pitch. The bottom line is that no one knows if he'd be successful in continuing his approach into the Premier League, BUT: he deserves a chance to prove it.

[AsTallAsLions]

I don't see how the scenario has changed at all. As amazing as the atmosphere was on Tuesday, and as pleasing as it is to be going to Wembley, we shouldn't be in this position. We should be up already. If we don't get there, Bruce will have failed. The question is moot for me until we're promoted. And for what it's worth I still have doubts about being able to stay in the PL playing Bruceball.

[Mister E]

I'm still really unsure about him in the top-flight. He strikes me as the managerial equivalent of Elmo or someone - too good for the Championship, but with a great big question mark over them in the Premier League.

Nevertheless he's definitely gone up in my estimation this year. Yes he's frustrating, yes he has his limits, and yes he's defensive, but he's actually very good at being defensive - which is miles and miles better than your average rubbish jobs-for-the-boys British manager (Alan 'Oh Fuck' Pardew etc). The idea of Hutton floating around to follow Adama was particularly impressive.

This is where I am.

What struck me on Tuesday evening was the fact that we actually tried 2 or 3 corner routines that did not involve simply floating the ball into the 6 yard box and hoping: that really is progress!
As others have asked: I wonder what impact Agnew has actually had - it seems to me to be more than coincidental that our games became more progressive after he arrived.

[paul_e]

I wonder what impact Agnew has actually had - it seems to me to be more than coincidental that our games became more progressive after he arrived.

The sample sizes are tiny and there are other factors but in 22 games before Agnew arrived we scored 29 goals (at 1.32 goals a game), in the 24 games since we've scored 43 (at 1.79 per game).  That's a massive change (over a season the former would be about 60 and the latter about 82).

I don't see how the scenario has changed at all. As amazing as the atmosphere was on Tuesday, and as pleasing as it is to be going to Wembley, we shouldn't be in this position. We should be up already. If we don't get there, Bruce will have failed. The question is moot for me until we're promoted. And for what it's worth I still have doubts about being able to stay in the PL playing Bruceball.

I think, with the resources we have, he'd keep us up, probably 10-12 but we'd never get better than that. If Bruce stays longer term we're accepting that as the peak of our ambitions (in my opinion). That's not my biggest concern though, my biggest issue is that he's never left a club with a squad that is ready to take a big step forward, there's always lots of players who can't really offer anything in a different system. It's exactly what MON did to us and I really don't want us to fuck up a 2nd chance at building something with an owner willing to throw money in by having a manager who makes a mess of things. I was largely on side with MON. I never wanted him to leave, as a number on here did, and I was upset when he decided to walk in such a shitty way but a big part of that was that I'd realised that the job to turn us into a free-flowing side that didn't have huge limitations against teams that came to get a point was massive, we just didn't have the team for it.

We're in the same place now but the simplest time to bring in a bunch of players to fix that is immediately after a promotion. If Bruce stays for 5-6 months and gets a window or 2 then we'll have more players that suit his style but instead of being on moderate wages and fairly low fees they're going to be £10m+ and earning £60-70k a week, which makes them much harder to move on as we found before.