Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[Matt Collins]

Exactly

Who do people think is going to come in and replace him?

The 'mosf expensive squad assembled' line is stupid as a stick to beat him with. It was expensive partly because we spent loads of money on McCormack, Gollini, tshibola, Elphick, etc

If we're doing a 3-4 year rebuild I don't think he's the man. But as things stand there's a real risk we disintegrate this season and I don't know who people think will come in to replace him

I also did enjoy last season more than any since Lambert's first (and that was purely the back end)

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Fucking Hell Louzie you seriously think Bruce ball has been fun to watch?  I genuinely can't fathom how.

As for blaming the players, they were, for the most part, Bruce's players, and Bruce's team.  On the playing side the buck stops with Bruce, it was his job to prepare, coach and motivate them appropriately.  He failed, plain and simple, and from where I was looking  it was about as entertaining as having deep root canal work. 

I think you're grossly exaggerating.

23 wins, 70 odd goals, some dudd results, but loads of drama and excitement.

It was easily the most enjoyable season in 8 years.

[ozzjim]

Why on earth would a Dean Smith, for example, take it. Apart from being a Villa fan? Go to a club that once you remove sentiment, has no money, a chairman looking to sell, no chief exec, about to sell probably the best 2 players at the club, literally no senior central defenders after that and no cash to replace them. Whilst I wholeheartedly agree that I would prefer a more progressive manager, they are going to spend 2years firefighting then probably face the boot if the club is sold. We will be lucky to end up with Mick fucking Mccarthy at the moment.

[nick harper]

I think it would be a disaster for the club. What manager of any pedigree is going to want to come in and oversee a fire sale and try to cobble together a squad from what’s left. That’s taking aside whether you could trust those left at the club to even know what type of manager they’d want.

I also really enjoyed the season overall.

[TopDeck113]

Every managerial vacancy gets filled, even at the most basket-case of clubs. The fact is that there are more out of work or aspiring managers seeking work than there are in post.  On the day Bruce goes - and I reckon he'll resign imminently - there'll be twenty-odd enquiries before nightfall.

Getting a manager is not the issue. Getting the right one in the midst of the current debacle is.

[Clampy]

Fucking Hell Louzie you seriously think Bruce ball has been fun to watch?  I genuinely can't fathom how.

As for blaming the players, they were, for the most part, Bruce's players, and Bruce's team.  On the playing side the buck stops with Bruce, it was his job to prepare, coach and motivate them appropriately.  He failed, plain and simple, and from where I was looking  it was about as entertaining as having deep root canal work. 

I think you're grossly exaggerating.

23 wins, 70 odd goals, some dudd results, but loads of drama and excitement.

It was easily the most enjoyable season in 8 years.

Yes, totally over the top. There were some frustrating games in there but you'd be in a very small minority describing it as entertaining as 'deep root canal work'. If that's what you really thought, you should have probably saved your money and not bothered going.

As for Bruce leaving, I don't think right now is the time. Sorting the turmoil off the pitch should be the priority. 

[ROBBO]

I really can't see him wanting to stay if Leeds want him he will go, I also am starting to believe Tony isn't as wealthy as he made out, the best outcome fingers crossed is someone comes in that does have the necessary and buys him out.

[ldavfc4eva]

I agree with Lou on the fun part and also the fact the Bruce has stabilised the club and changed the atmosphere from a pretty toxic one in to a more united one.

Personally I would not want a Dean Smith type manager here next season, if Bruce stays I think we will need him and his contacts to get some half decent loan players in, especially if we we end up having a fire sale to get some cash in to the club.

[PaulWinch again]

Right I’m back to how has Bruce stabilised us? He built a squad with one goal, he failed to achieve that and now we’re a mess. I appreciate the financial failings aren’t his fault, but the continuity of the squad is clearly part of his job.

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We're the biggest club he will ever manage with the biggest salary he will ever command.

I don't think he'd walk out.

It's unclear what position we're actually in as articles like that seem to be more about perpetuating the crisis rather than adding anything new. The story hasn't moved in nearly a week, and it's still not obvious what is going on or has gone on.

The aim has to be to keep as many players as possible; a 20 goal man in Kodjia,supply from Albert, sacrifice virgins to keep Jack etc and blend some promising younger players with some wheeling and dealing.

There's no science to this league; it's attentional and I think sticking with what we have and no and as less flux as possible is what we need.

I don't trust us to get yet another managerial appointment right.

[brian green]

I put it this way.  I have bought my season ticket not least out of solidarity with the rank and file staff at Villa Park whose livelihoods are threatened by the gross mismanagement of their superiors- but if Bruce is there next season I shall not be.

[supertom]

In the wake of all this shite from the past week or two, my thinking has completely changed on Bruce. Short of a successful takeover, in which case an entirely new start is required (including managerial change), we need to keep Bruce on. I don't like his football. His thinking is outdated but he motivates his players and he is willing to work on whatever budget he's given.

He's going to head into next season without several of our best players, including Grealish (which is particularly galling for us all). I don't think simply selling Grealish is enough to cover our shortfalls for the year. We'll lose 3-4 more of our bigger players. We'll likely make a huge loss on McCorcack. We can't give Richards away.

We're going to be about as appealing a prospect as getting locked in a gimp dungeon with Katie Hopkins, a megaphone and regular deliveries of the Daily Mail, for a year. No decent manager worth his salt will take us on. We could attract and up and comer from the lower leagues certainly, but that's a huge huge gamble given what state our squad is in.

I honestly think our remit next term should be survival. Keep Bruce and we'll be mid ground, pretty safe. But if we go and take a punt on a younger boss, making a step up, they could get chewed up and spat out, and we could find ourselves in even murkier waters.

We know what happens here when an owner has lost interest and has royally buggered up. But we're not gauranteed to find a new owner any time soon. So steadying the ship is required and in that respect I think Bruce will probably be quite useful. By McGrath it'll be wretched to watch but hopefully we'll see some young players develop.

[old man villa fan]

Results gloss over a lot. The reason why many were happy with Bruce was because of the results and the excitement of getting those results.  However, that overlooks the poor quality of the football and the lack of building anything for the future (and even the following season).

Ultimately, it was results or bust and he failed in that respect and threw the future of the team (not the Club, that's a separate matter) under the bus at the same time. More of the same from a leopard that cannot change his spots, no thanks.

[SheffieldVillain]

We're going to be about as appealing a prospect as getting locked in a gimp dungeon with Katie Hopkins, a megaphone and regular deliveries of the Daily Mail, for a year. No decent manager worth his salt will take us on. We could attract and up and comer from the lower leagues certainly, but that's a huge huge gamble given what state our squad is in.

I honestly think our remit next term should be survival. Keep Bruce and we'll be mid ground, pretty safe. But if we go and take a punt on a younger boss, making a step up, they could get chewed up and spat out, and we could find ourselves in even murkier waters.

Of course, this is true. Equally we could find a gem and push on for the next five years.

People keep talking about Eddie Howe - if Bournemouth hadn't taken a punt on him, where would they be?

[Clampy]

I can see both sides of Supertom's and OMVF's posts. My reason's for keeping him at the moment are in line with what Supertom has said but I totally get why people want us to start afresh with a new young progressive manager and rebuild. That sounds tempting, it makes sense and probably what should happen but the mess and uncertainty off the pitch says to me it's just not the right time.