Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[Chris Jameson]

I appreciate he's not too popular and probably not the right man but to save me trawling back through the thread has he been given any credit for signing Robertson who was probably the best left back in the Premiership (been listening to Top Flight Time Machine and am taking their view of what it's called) and Maguire who has been outstanding or were they because of the former number 26 and Steve Agnew or something?

[Sexual Ealing]

I appreciate he's not too popular and probably not the right man but to save me trawling back through the thread has he been given any credit for signing Robertson who was probably the best left back in the Premiership (been listening to Top Flight Time Machine and am taking their view of what it's called) and Maguire who has been outstanding or were they because of the former number 26 and Steve Agnew or something?

You'd need to ask Hull fans because it's totally fucking irrelevant to us.

[Chris Jameson]

I keep reading how he doesn't bring players through and his signings are rubbish etc, just for a little bit of balance. This isn't me saying he's the saviour, I thought he would do a decent job when appointed and I'm still not convinced he's the disaster most seem to think, only one person to blame for the current clusterfuck and he is nowhere near B6.

[Sexual Ealing]

Stopped clocks and all that. He hasn't done the job that was asked of him, despite the favourable conditions. All else is fluff.

[old man villa fan]

I appreciate he's not too popular and probably not the right man but to save me trawling back through the thread has he been given any credit for signing Robertson who was probably the best left back in the Premiership (been listening to Top Flight Time Machine and am taking their view of what it's called) and Maguire who has been outstanding or were they because of the former number 26 and Steve Agnew or something?

He has had notable success with possibly 5 or 6 (from the ones mentioned on here) young players but that has been over a career spanning a long period. Not sure whether he brought them through by design or necessity.

He has not tried to do it here and therefore the argument is possibly not valid.

[brian green]

There is a mountain more evidence of Bruce's part in our downfall than Tony Xia.  Unless I have missed something all that the owner is guilty of, if guilty at all, is allegedly not making sufficient funds available to pay the PAYE on time.  In every other respect he has shouldered the burdens of ownership far better than Bruce has shouldered his brief to get us promoted.  Like I say I must have nodded off when the owner became a rotten bastard.

[robleflaneur]

I appreciate he's not too popular and probably not the right man but to save me trawling back through the thread has he been given any credit for signing Robertson who was probably the best left back in the Premiership (been listening to Top Flight Time Machine and am taking their view of what it's called) and Maguire who has been outstanding or were they because of the former number 26 and Steve Agnew or something?

Without great historical knowledge of the facts,I think that Bruce's acquisitions have tended to be reasonable.That's not the problem for me,my issue is what he gets out of his players .
Having a good squad but not being successful with them makes the need for a better manager a big priority.

[old man villa fan]

I appreciate he's not too popular and probably not the right man but to save me trawling back through the thread has he been given any credit for signing Robertson who was probably the best left back in the Premiership (been listening to Top Flight Time Machine and am taking their view of what it's called) and Maguire who has been outstanding or were they because of the former number 26 and Steve Agnew or something?

Without great historical knowledge of the facts,I think that Bruce's acquisitions have tended to be reasonable.That's not the problem for me,my issue is what he gets out of his players .
Having a good squad but not being successful with them makes the need for a better manager a big priority.

The best players in the world can fail when they move clubs if they do not fit in with the team.

Ours are way down the ladder of ability but the principle still stands.

[mr underhill]

is he still with us?

[andyh]

There is a mountain more evidence of Bruce's part in our downfall than Tony Xia.  Unless I have missed something all that the owner is guilty of, if guilty at all, is allegedly not making sufficient funds available to pay the PAYE on time.  In every other respect he has shouldered the burdens of ownership far better than Bruce has shouldered his brief to get us promoted.  Like I say I must have nodded off when the owner became a rotten bastard.

I find myself completely agreeing with you, again.
I’m not stalking you, honestly.

[Chris Jameson]

My apologies, the owner is clearly doing what an owner should do, none of this is his fault.

[VILLA MOLE]

But the owner must have a worst case scenario in mind if we don't get promoted .  He has not budgeted for this at all surely ??

[ChicagoLion]

But the owner must have a worst case scenario in mind if we don't get promoted .  He has not budgeted for this at all surely ??

Obviously not, but you could say the owner gave the manager the tools he asked for to get the job done.
The manager failed and now we are fucked.
One of them raised the money to make the bet , the other one handed it over to the croupier.

[paul_e]

What's interesting is that some people who want him to go are having a pop at him for leaving other clubs in the same situation.

You do realise that it's possible to hold both those opinions right?

I didn't want him because I wanted us to build a side around youth, pace and technique and I didn't think he'd do that. I then got annoyed because we weren't even looking likely to get promotion despite nearly 2 seasons with the pragmatic promotion specialist in charge. Finally I'm now worried that he'll try to avoid taking any responsibility for his part in the mess by walking away over a 'lack of support from the board' because he has done exactly that 2-3 times before.


As for the stuff about Xia, for me the biggest mistake he's made was trusting Wyness and going along with the shit or bust approach.

[tomd2103]

I appreciate he's not too popular and probably not the right man but to save me trawling back through the thread has he been given any credit for signing Robertson who was probably the best left back in the Premiership (been listening to Top Flight Time Machine and am taking their view of what it's called) and Maguire who has been outstanding or were they because of the former number 26 and Steve Agnew or something?

Without great historical knowledge of the facts,I think that Bruce's acquisitions have tended to be reasonable.That's not the problem for me,my issue is what he gets out of his players .
Having a good squad but not being successful with them makes the need for a better manager a big priority.

He bought poorly in the January of his first season.  Bought the likes of Lansbury and Hogan for decent fees and on relatively big money, but they were not suited to the way we play.  Also his stockpiling of right backs and bringing in Whelan (again on decent money) when we already had Bjarnason and Jedinak at the club was poor squad management.  That said, the likes of Round and Wyness would have agreed the transfers and Xia would have written the cheques so Bruce is not alone when blame is being apportioned.