Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[not3bad]

I say sack Bruce, give him the compensation then bring back Alex McLeish.

This time, he'll get it right.

[olaftab]

Well lets face it we fucked up at key moments. Bruce started slowly and then when he had good runs got found out and we were not able to sustain them.  The level of performance nd consistency required to go up was missing from our team all season. We just need to say goodbye.

[not3bad]

Well we don't "just need to say goodbye". We also need to have an inkling of what to do next.

[olaftab]

Appoint a decent modern thinking Coach. Not a promotion specialist who know the game inside out and used to play for  blah blah blah.

[WarszaVillan]

Surely Bruce is going nowhere if he hasn't resigned. We can't afford the firing/hiring compensation costs?

[garyshawsknee]

Well we don't "just need to say goodbye". We also need to have an inkling of what to do next.

Goodbye would be a good start.

[ozzjim]

So when we played well it was because the players flouted the game plan but when we were poor it was because Bruce set the team up wrong?

Or it was Agnew's or Terry's influence but only when we won.

I agree but that works both ways and is pissing me off as well. Play like shit in the play off final (and for half of the season) then Bruce didn't tell them to be so defensive. Score a few now and again and it is what he demanded all along.

He tried, he failed (twice), he can piss off.

Doesn't look like he is going anywhere though.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

So when we played well it was because the players flouted the game plan but when we were poor it was because Bruce set the team up wrong?

Or it was Agnew's or Terry's influence but only when we won.

I agree but that works both ways and is pissing me off as well. Play like shit in the play off final (and for half of the season) then Bruce didn't tell them to be so defensive. Score a few now and again and it is what he demanded all along.

He tried, he failed (twice), he can piss off.

Agreed. If I thought he was on to something, he'd be worth persevering with for one last season. That's not the case.

[Steve67]

The timing of the John Terry I'm leaving statement is a bit odd to me.  Unless he already has another move lined up, one might have thought that he'd perhaps want another bash at Villa to get us up to make up for the fuck ups this season.  But no, a definitive and clear decision made very quickly.  If they have already been told that we can't afford him if we don't go up, then surely other decisions have also already been made and ghe club are holding back on letting us know?  This makes the statement from Xia even more Lerneresque for me.  I don't see what advantage it is for Villa to keep hold of Bruce going forward but I think he will have already been told he's a goner and the club announced it already.  Therefore, I think he's staying.

[Ger Regan]

I see very few reasons for keeping him on, other than "stability". Stability doesn't get us promoted.

[Brassneck]

Having Kodjia and Grealish missing for half the season (entire season for Kodjia) cost us the points that would have been enough to get autos.

Relying on Hogan as a loan striker has been our biggest failure but due to the financial constraints last summer, we had no alternative.  Jacks return to the team in December and Grabban's introduction in January was the big turn around for me but we'd left ourselves too much to do when playing the Bruce numbers game tactic of "try to sneak a win after soaking up the pressure".

Back to coming back from going a goal down - If it doesn't happen very often then that is all the more reason to go out and try to win games from the off, not leave it in the lap of the Gods whether you can ride the storm and get a break late on.  Wolves, Derby, Cardiff and Fulham away all merge into one. They were identical rubbish performances where we were well beaten. 0 goals from any of them.

[Nunkin1965]

No I don’t think he’s going either.
I think we’d have heard something by now.

[old man villa fan]

If Bruce couldn't get us promoted this season with that squad, the chances are very real that he wouldn't do it with a weaker squad.

I have said it before, regardless of what little money we might have available, we cannot afford not to get rid of him.  Not all managers are tied to contracts and if we were to look at assistants/coaches at top clubs across Europe, most would probably not have compensation payments to pay.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

No I don’t think he’s going either.
I think we’d have heard something by now.

There's always the possibility the club have said go on holiday, relax, take your mind off football without having the press call you every 5 minutes for a quote, we'll deal with it on your return. He deserves a proper rest. I also find it strange Leeds are reported to have spoken with him without a word from Villa Park about tapping up our manager.

[Ads]

It would be a shit trick to fire him while he's away. He really does deserve a break personally.