Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[Matt Collins]

He said the kids found it tough but they will do at that age and it's good for their development

I've interpreted this as a sign that he hates all teenagers and has posters of King Herod on his wall

[Three Spires Villa]

What's Bruce been saying then pre match v Ipswich ??

It’s the championship, we will be there or thereabouts, I have lost 7 players, I have only been here 12 months, fans expect to much, this is proper football. Win or loose does he say anything different?

Ha ha, I have a touch of the Bruce, think I made some things up!!!

[Nunkin1965]

No one is unhappy with the wins, but I think it's perfectly reasonable to think winning games whilst we're playing like this is unsustainable and, over a season, it will probably not be enough.

If we carry on with Bruce for a while I at least want to see him realise that he was a big part of the reason for us not getting promotion and start to look in the mirror a bit more.  The comments last night are getting a lot of attention because they're the same things he's said numerous times in the last 2 years and yet the problems haven't changed or ever really been properly addressed other than to throw more and more new players at it and see what happens.

What I took from his post game comments was that he was putting pressure on the board to close out the couple of loans he has lined up. He has been under pressure from supporters and possibly now at board level to play younger players.

I do think he has a very valid point in that if some of our young players aren't able to thrive away to Yeovil then maybe they aren't ready to play a significant part in a promotion chasing side.  Of course it conveniently ignores that some of his signings, Taylor, Bree, Lansbury, Hogan aren't up to it either...

But there's a school of thought that Bruce set it up so the youngsters were unlikely to thrive.  RHM up against two old school CBs and no doubt a fair few high balls pumped forward to him if Hogan's experiences are anything to go by. 

Another school of thought is that Bruce hasn't prepared them well enough to thrive by giving them chances in more solid selections. By his own admission they're only used to under 23 football.   

Might as well say they didn't thrive whilst playing in a straight jacket and a ball and chain.

I honestly think that you’d have seen a better team performance if you played the entire U23 side.

Unfortunately, Bruce throws youngsters under the bus with old school dinosaur comments about them after the game.
I’m convinced that if we achieve anything this season it will be despite him not because of him.

[Drummond]

Down to 4th, Bruce Out!

[Nunkin1965]

Brentford  next week will be interesting.
Sadly the guy who probably will never but should manage us will be in the opposite dugout.

[tomd2103]

He said the kids found it tough but they will do at that age and it's good for their development

I've interpreted this as a sign that he hates all teenagers and has posters of King Herod on his wall

You can't really judge anything in a game like that though.  I think Green and RHM have done well when they've come on in games so far this season and that is the role I would use them in for the time being.  I think Bruce got the midfield wrong at Yeovil as Whelan, Hourihane and Doyle-Hayes are a bit too similar.  If Doyle-Hayes is going to play then he should play as the defensive midfielder and it would be interesting to see how he would get on in that role with Grealish and McGinn ahead of him. 

Like many of the aspects at the club in recent times, there just hasn't been any joined up thinking regarding the young players at the club.  Too often they have been chucked in to positions or formations that don't suit them and then written off as not good enough after a few appearances.  That had even been the case with Grealish until he found a place in the midfield after Christmas.

[ChicagoLion]

He does not consider younger players as part of his remit, it suits him to cobble a team together with the odds stacked against them.
It means that he can justify getting out into the market doing deals with his mates.

[Clampy]

He does not consider younger players as part of his remit, it suits him to cobble a team together with the odds stacked against them.
It means that he can justify getting out into the market doing deals with his mates.

What utter utter crap.

Unless he has mates up at Hibernian, in Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Barnsley etc.

[Chris Jameson]

As soon as McGinn has a dip in form photos will emerge of Bruce on holiday with whoever the Hibs manager is. He has mates everywhere and hates young people, especially ones who play football.

[PeterWithe]

When Luke Moore came through, he was being compared favourably by many to Rooney....

And it was reasonable to do so, at the time both were no more than very promising youngsters and Luke had bested him over the two legs of the Youth cup final.

[brian green]

I agree with Chicago but for different reasons.  Bruce does not especially like dealing with his mates.  He simply enjoys spending money.

[Chris Jameson]

What manager doesn’t enjoy spending money?

[brian green]

The ones who do not waste it.

[Steve67]

I think some of you need to give your heads a wobble! At this time, other than a still very inconsistent Green, which other u23 is really knocking the door down and deserving a first team spot? Bruce, who I am not a fan of, has little choice BUT to do deals for better players, regardless whether he deals with his mates or not.  Equally, given he's been in the game for so many years, he's bound to have built up his networks. And why not? He is hell bent on promotion, not hell bent on patience and I'm sure, whilst the new owners want sustainability in the shape of younger, sellable players and not old farts like Jedinak and Whelan, they also want promotion, quickly. He would step on the foot on his grandmother to get promotion, if that means alienating the kids, he will. Clearly, the promised land is all that counts or matters.

[brian green]

My head is perfectly steady.  It tells me that we have just survived probably the most scary and humiliating period in our 144 year history.  It was brought about by the wasting of money.  Huge sums of money.  Steve Bruce is not the only one of the string of managers we have had right back to MON who has wasted the club's wealth but he has been just as guilty of it.  We dodged a very large bullet with arrival of the new owners.  If there are to be better times at Villa Park and the signs to me are that there will be, we have to stamp out the perception by the clubs with whom we compete that we are mugs with our money.