Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[Ad@m]

Just wondering if we're a bit biased against Henry because of the position he played? As in, it's easier to imagine that a defensive midfielder would be more tactically astute than a flying wing-forward - not to mention the whole 'too much talent to be a good coach' thing that often applies.

Absolutely.  I mean look at Zinedene Zidane - cracking player but what's he ever done in management?!

[Monty]

Just wondering if we're a bit biased against Henry because of the position he played? As in, it's easier to imagine that a defensive midfielder would be more tactically astute than a flying wing-forward - not to mention the whole 'too much talent to be a good coach' thing that often applies.

Absolutely.  I mean look at Zinedene Zidane - cracking player but what's he ever done in management?!

Yes and Cruyff yada yada, I more had the Keane/Maradona/Shearer thing in mind, which I think is much more common. But maybe it's just more common to be a bad manager than a good one no matter who you are.

[Dave P]

Just wondering if we're a bit biased against Henry because of the position he played? As in, it's easier to imagine that a defensive midfielder would be more tactically astute than a flying wing-forward - not to mention the whole 'too much talent to be a good coach' thing that often applies.

Absolutely.  I mean look at Zinedene Zidane - cracking player but what's he ever done in management?!

Yes and Cruyff yada yada, I more had the Keane/Maradona/Shearer thing in mind, which I think is much more common. But maybe it's just more common to be a bad manager than a good one no matter who you are.

Lets not forget Steve Bruce wasn't a bad player. 

[themossman]

I think it’s that plus the fact that big name managers who haven’t earned their stripes tend to face more/unrealistic expectations and their failures are more newsworthy which makes them stick in the memory.

[Toronto Villa]

There’s no recipe for guaranteed success with us. Or any club for that matter. We’ve hired experienced managers and they’ve failed us. We’ve hired inexperienced managers and they have failed us. So the bias and concern is really against the name as much as the experience. We are a Championship club so for me this is less a risk than had we done this in he PL. He won’t have a fortune because of FFP so he will need to work mostly with what he has. It’s a gamble but it would be a gamble with Bruce also.

[sid1964]

Lets hope that we make the decision soon -  the suspense is killing me lol

[Monty]

Just wondering if we're a bit biased against Henry because of the position he played? As in, it's easier to imagine that a defensive midfielder would be more tactically astute than a flying wing-forward - not to mention the whole 'too much talent to be a good coach' thing that often applies.

Absolutely.  I mean look at Zinedene Zidane - cracking player but what's he ever done in management?!

Yes and Cruyff yada yada, I more had the Keane/Maradona/Shearer thing in mind, which I think is much more common. But maybe it's just more common to be a bad manager than a good one no matter who you are.

Lets not forget Steve Bruce wasn't a bad player. 

But it's not so much about being a good player as being a super ridiculous talent. Lots of good players had to work unbelievably hard to do even half the things that come naturally to others. Pep was a great player, but he wasn't a Cruyff, for instance.

[themossman]

If you’re talking about getting the most out of a static squad of players then I’d say there’s more of an argument for the short term bounce of a global superstar whipping them up. It’s not like the alternative is a master tactician who has got the best of those resources.

[ktvillan]

That Guardian article is bang on the money in its assessment of Bruce, and especially the "underdog" mentality which is his forte but  was a poor fit for a big club with an expensive squad.   He's also probably right that the underdog approach might work better with a more workmanlike squad.  I'd still like to see Bruce replaced though as the football is and will be dreadful to watch.  Not sure about Henry though, huge gamble unless it's in tandem with a more experienced right hand man. 

[Chris Smith]

If you’re talking about getting the most out of a static squad of players then I’d say there’s more of an argument for the short term bounce of a global superstar whipping them up. It’s not like the alternative is a master tactician who has got the best of those resources.

Or them being unable to do the things he expects because he has zero experience of working with Championship level players. Also, it’s not a binary choice, Bruce or Henry.

[Drummond]

That Guardian article is bang on the money in its assessment of Bruce, and especially the "underdog" mentality which is his forte but  was a poor fit for a big club with an expensive squad.   He's also probably right that the underdog approach might work better with a more workmanlike squad.  I'd still like to see Bruce replaced though as the football is and will be dreadful to watch.  Not sure about Henry though, huge gamble unless it's in tandem with a more experienced right hand man.

And the rumours are that it's Steve Bould and the rest of the old Arsenal back room team. Which would provide the experience, tactical nous and ability you'd think.

If we were bringing Henry in with no team and to work with our existing lot, then I'd say bad call.

[VillaAlways]

My gut feeling is that Bruce is staying

[Lastfootstamper]

Lee Hendrie being all contradictory in The Daily Star.

“I’d love to see Steve continue at the club because I think he deserves that shot. He’s only just missed out in the play-off final.

“He’s come and steadied the ship. The club was in a mess. It would be a crying shame if Steve leaves.

“It would be great to see Thierry come in and do a fantastic job, we all know what a fantastic world-class player he was. But is it a gamble? That’s my big question mark over Henry coming in.”

He hasn't steadied the ship, he's been complicit in holing it.

The only steady/stable I see, Lee, is that we're about to kick off a third consecutive season in the same fucking shit division.

Has he fucking gone yet?

[ChicagoLion]

Bruce is a bit thick, which is a major limitation.
We need an intelligent manager for a change.

[old man villa fan]

Another for the list of great players and going straight into top level management is Klinsmann.

Sticking with Bruce means a year delay in rebuilding the structure of the playing side of the Club.