Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[tomd2103]

I wonder sometimes if he talks himself and the team into losing games.

I began to wonder if his comments about tiredness and fatigue when we had midweek matches were almost talking players into feeling that way.  The international windows do break the season up a lot and seeing as few of our players go away on international duty, there is quite a bit of rest period built into the season. 

[OzVilla]

The irony of it all is that now that we are limited in what we can spend, something Bruce won't be unfamiliar with given his stints at Blues, Wigan and Hull are we now actually a better fit for him?

This is my thinking too.  Bruce is above all else a pragmatic football manager.  This was the first time in his career where he had the largest budget in the division and I dont think it suited his style of management.  I understand all the other arguments and do agree with some looking back on the season, but for where we find ourselves he might, ironically, be the best man for the job.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

The irony of it all is that now that we are limited in what we can spend, something Bruce won't be unfamiliar with given his stints at Blues, Wigan and Hull are we now actually a better fit for him?

This is my thinking too.  Bruce is above all else a pragmatic football manager. 

He loves an international break in Dubai as much as the next (overpaided) man.

[tony scott]

I keep changing my mind about SB,at the moment, keep is winning. The reasons for this are mostly financial, also with our downsided squad he appears to be able to use the loan system well. I think because of so many players departing ,we might start playing a quicker style that’s even with SB s default cautious approach,is a fairly simple system to implement. I would love us to have numerous U23s on the verge of making an impact but they are coming from playing in 2nd tier reserve team football, so it really is keeping your fingers crossed with them. So it’s stay,for the moment anyway.

[Clampy]

I'm swaying towards the let's have as less upheaval as possible approach although like a few others, i've changed my mind a few times on it. In the long run, it might be for the the best but he can count himself very lucky to be given another crack at it.

[Monty]

Bruce is basically a cut-price MON. The arguments for and against on here are pretty similar to the ones we had when the hasn't-even-got-a-law-degree one was in charge.

Plus ca change and all that.

I think this is a good analogy (though unfair on both in many ways - Bruce is actually better tactically, MON motivationally). Just because MON was the guy to get us to 6th it didn't make him the guy to go beyond that, but we were so worn out from being rubbish that it took a while to get over the grateful-for-just-not-being-shit feeling.

[brian green]

And with the arrival of Lerner the relief of Ellis's departure and Villa Park shedding its comedy persona of Crossroads with added football.

[themossman]

It’s a really hard one. The counter history argument is a hard one to substantiate but given the tailspin we were in and the terrible morale all over the club when he joined, it’s really possible that over 2 seasons he has helped us avoid the worst while still disappointing the fans.

There is a lot to be said for the fact that we have a gaffer that the players respect and who is in control of the dressing room, even if he is not great managerially. If nothing else I’m grateful to him for building a team I don’t hate, which is something I haven’t felt for a while.

[DB]

The irony of it all is that now that we are limited in what we can spend, something Bruce won't be unfamiliar with given his stints at Blues, Wigan and Hull are we now actually a better fit for him?

This is my thinking too.  Bruce is above all else a pragmatic football manager.  This was the first time in his career where he had the largest budget in the division and I dont think it suited his style of management.  I understand all the other arguments and do agree with some looking back on the season, but for where we find ourselves he might, ironically, be the best man for the job.

I mentioned this a few days ago too. He didn’t know his best team at the start of the season and that cost us, too many new buys. Get rid of the deadwood, use some of the youth players and have settled team. As you say, it could be better for him.

[sickbeggar]

i'm not sure Bruce was really living on the breadline at any of those clubs. Just a cursory google search brings up plenty of mention of him spending 40m on players at Hull and wikipedia claims he had the biggest budget in the division at blose.

[old man villa fan]

We needed a change in approach when we were relegated after years of steadily getting worse, trying to do the same thing. The Club thought they could bounce back without the structural change and this has failed.

How much longer are they going to ignore the blindingly obvious. We have to change and that means a manager for the future. Bruce is not that man as he has always been a man for the present. I am not saying that the new manager should be someone that will be here for five years or more but someone that can start things off which can be continued by another. I am fed up of our manager being the same variety as the one before.

[Chris Stares]

It’s a really hard one. The counter history argument is a hard one to substantiate but given the tailspin we were in and the terrible morale all over the club when he joined, it’s really possible that over 2 seasons he has helped us avoid the worst while still disappointing the fans.

There is a lot to be said for the fact that we have a gaffer that the players respect and who is in control of the dressing room, even if he is not great managerially. If nothing else I’m grateful to him for building a team I don’t hate, which is something I haven’t felt for a while.

This 100%.

[frank black]

Keep Bruce.

Sell a few.

Let him work the loan market.

Get promoted.

(I know he frustrates us, but I just have that feeling it’s the best move)

[old man villa fan]

Keeping the current manager is just the easy/lazy answer to 'the alternative is too difficult'. Nothing comes easy and you have to work bloody hard to achieve it.

Planning and building in steps is the only way we are ever going to get back to where we think we should be. There are no quick wins.

[Risso]

If he'd given the impression that it was going to take three years to reach the Premier League, and instigated a plan along those lines that centred on developing the youngsters, and he had built a squad accordingly, then we would be mad to get rid of him.  But that's the total opposite of what happened.  He clearly put together a one season, short term, shit-or-bust plan based on lots of very expensive experienced loan players, who if is his plan failed, we wouldn't have a chance of keeping.  Now he has failed, we're in a right state, and we're going to trust somebody who a) caused the situation we're in, and b) has never been a manager known for bringing youth through?

Utterly stupid in my opinion, he'll just make a bad situation a lot worse.