Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[chrisw1]

Bruce has in a very large way contributed to the shambles. He hasn’t got us promoted in two seasons and many of the players he bought to do that are on inflated contracts. Him staying isn’t a credit to him at all. He will be incredibly fortunate to be afforded that opportunrit.

Like any manager he'll work to the budget given to him. He had a lot of damage to repair from years of in-fighting, dressing room splits, inflated ego's etc. Getting to the play off final wasn't an entirely unsuccessful season. The trouble of course was, as is increasingly evident, our owners gambled everything on going up.
I think short of a takeover where someone can put in place a sustainable long term plan and not merely shite out 100 million and say we'll be up there with Barca in a couple of years, we'll be unable to attract any manager better suited to a Championship scrap than Bruce.

In the current situation I cannot see the positive aspect of changing. And lets not forget who's going to be picking any new potential manager.

There seems to be a school of thought that, because of our financial troubles, struggling or even a relegation battle is the likely prognosis for the coming season, and that this is justification for keeping solid old safety first tactical bypass boring bastard Steve.  You may have guessed that I don't subscribe to that view, I still think we'll have a decent squad (as good as Cardiff's this season anyway) if the younger players can be brought through and we tap the full potential of others. I  think this "better keep Steve" mantra is panic merchant stuff.  I say bollocks to it, bollocks to Bruce and let's go for it with someone who knows how to coach, inspire, motivate and take the game to the opposition with a bit of tempo and bravura.   Next question no doubt will be "but who would take it on?".  We're Aston Villa for fuck's sake.

It does not seem to matter what the problem is, the answer is Keep Mr Tactical Bypass.
Season blows up after a couple of months and finish no where near the play offs - Keep Steve Bruce.
Team starts season unprepared and wins one in nine - keep Steve Bruce
Poor run of results October keep Steve Bruce.
Another poor run of form December - keep Steve Bruce
Mind numbing defense first, no game time for promising youngsters- keep Steve Bruce.
Culminating in Play off Final defeat where all the cows came home to roost- keep Steve Bruce.
Club goes into Financial meltdown because we kept Steve Bruce and the answer is - keep Steve Bruce

I think last season, whatever school of thought you were from, there was some logic in keeping Steve Bruce - it was his team, there were sporadic signs of improvement and he had been there and done it.  The reality is it almost paid off.  Without the Kodija and Grealish injuries it probably would have.

However, moving forward to our current situation it seems to me much harder to justify keeping him on, unless the financial situation is really so stark that the pay off would tip us into admin.  Dean Smith seems a very obvious choice if he would come in our current financial situation.  I suspect he would but we don't know for sure.  However, the 'we are Villa' may not be enough to attract higher profile managers.  It would take some balls to jump into our pit of misery right now.

[Chris Smith]

I am ambivalent as to whether or not we keep Bruce because under the current circumstances I can’t see it making much difference either way.  It appears we are having to sell our best players to balance the books and will be relying on untried youngsters, loanees and cheap buys to top up the squad for next season so if we do make a change it will need to be somebody able to operate under those constraints.

[Clampy]

I think it would have been done by now if they were making a change.

Purely because of the uncertainty, i'd leave things as they are but like I've said, I totally understand why people would want a change seeing as he didn't get us up.

[Boz]

If Bruce is willing to stay in the absolute shambles of a situation we're currently in, I've nothing but credit for the man. I say that assured in the knowledge we'll be playing some dreadful stuff on the pitch, but also with some assurance that we'll graft and be tough to beat. Getting as far away from the drop zone as quickly as possible will be order of business 1. Then we can hope (possibly requiring a lot of it) for a playoff push.

More like continued credit to his bank account

[aj2k77]

Imagine all the excuses we are going to hear next season under him.

[JUAN PABLO]

Imagine all the excuses we are going to hear next season under him.

I remember that little dig at the Villa fans about  them saying its a crisis at Villa



well it fecking is Steve

[ktvillan]

Yes Bruce was basically saying the fans were panic merchants.  It's now quite clear the fans were right to be concerned and Bruce's smug complacency was not only misplaced but insulting. 

[ChicagoLion]

Imagine all the excuses we are going to hear next season under him.

They are already being lined up for him, untried youngsters, loan signings.
I wonder why the youngsters are untried.
Here we go.

[Risso]

"That's the Championship.  We have to roll wor sleeves up and get on with it."

[sirlordbaltimore]

Yes Bruce was basically saying the fans were panic merchants

He was absolutely spot on to be fair. We do have a large portion of knicker wetters

[Rigadon]

"That's the Championship.  We have to roll wor sleeves up and get on with it."

Chuckle...

We aren't going to get another manager while the club is up the creek.  Like it or not, I think he's as good as we'll get for the foreseeable.  I don't mind him personally.  The football is limited, but we were a goal away from going up.  If we can keep at least some of the grown up players (seems more hope than expectation) he may keep us competitive.  He's taken very very limited teams up more than once before. 

[Allan C]

Yes Bruce was basically saying the fans were panic merchants

He was absolutely spot on to be fair. We do have a large portion of knicker wetters

No we have fans who have genuine concerns about the type of football that Bruce brought to the Club and didn’t buy into the “knows how to get teams promoted” stuff.

[Chinchilla Bathhouse]

Yes Bruce was basically saying the fans were panic merchants

He was absolutely spot on to be fair. We do have a large portion of knicker wetters

He absolutely wasn't. The fans were worried that the poor performances and results were going to be very costly in the long run.  His belittling of those concerns looks even more complacent and arrogant when you look at where we are now.

[andyh]

Yes Bruce was basically saying the fans were panic merchants

He was absolutely spot on to be fair. We do have a large portion of knicker wetters

Oh really ?
Well, those knicker wetters were right though, weren’t they?

Most of the knicker wetting was due to the crap start to the season, and had we had a better start we might not have finished 4th and be stuck in this fucking division for the foreseeable future.

[sirlordbaltimore]

Yes Bruce was basically saying the fans were panic merchants

He was absolutely spot on to be fair. We do have a large portion of knicker wetters

Oh really ?
Well, those knicker wetters were right though, weren’t they?

Clearly not, as we turned it around, and most of them then starting backing him until the next loss before shitting themselves all over again. You only have to look through the threads.