Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[ChicagoLion]

There was an interesting line in a John Percy article about Stoke yesterday (A Journalist I respect a lot).

Here it is:

Could Rowett remedy the short-term situation with more new signings? There are eight days left before the EFL loan deadline and he is targeting Brentford's Ryan Woods whose move would become permanent in January for £6.5m . A new central defender and another striker would be useful, too.

There needs to be a serious wake-up call soon, or this season could sink even lower. Senior figures at Aston Villa always used to insist that avoiding a second successive relegation was a huge, under-rated achievement by Steve Bruce. 

Seems SB gets stick for not getting us in the top 6 in 16/17 but if his remit was just to sort the dressing room out and keep the club up....

Really, someone saying that keeping us up was some sort of achievement when every comment by the club at the time was about getting back to the PL.

[OCD]

Under Di Matteo we started the season with 1 win in 12. The atmosphere around the place was awful and it was like we had forgotten how to win a game. At that point, promotion probably wasn't at the forefront of people's minds despite what might have been said publicly. The club had to be settled down first. Even last season, it seemed like the side was built around Jack and then his Kidney injury happened. There was a big difference between the side at the start of the season and the one playing March/April. The problem we have now is that the foundations were built on quick sand.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Under Di Matteo we started the season with 1 win in 12. The atmosphere around the place was awful and it was like we had forgotten how to win a game. At that point, promotion probably wasn't at the forefront of people's minds despite what might have been said publicly. The club had to be settled down first.

Di Matteo would still have been in a job if he could have stopped giving away goals and points in the final 5 minutes of games.

Sheff Weds 1-0 - 85 mins
Huddersfield 1-1 - 86 mins
Forest 2-2 - 87 mins
Brentford 1-1 - 88 mins
Barnsley 1-1 - 90 mins

One win in 12 but he only lost 3. Bruce had the task of shoring up the defence and he did it extremely well. One of the few joys of that season was watching the last 10 minutes and knowing we'd comfortably see them out.

[brian green]

And get stuck in the roadworks of the Aston Expressway.

[Legion]

[Legion]

Click or tap on the image to make it clearer. I think it is a little out of date for Bruce.

[Allan C]

Click or tap on the image to make it clearer. I think it is a little out of date for Bruce.

That’s really interesting  it also confirms for me what I always thought anyway that Ron Saunders was our best manager. It is of course impossible to directly compare managers from one era to another. I’d be interested to know Tommy Doc’s statistics as he was my first manager

[Legion]

Up to date for Steve Bruce:



P W D L %

[Damo70]

Under Di Matteo we started the season with 1 win in 12. The atmosphere around the place was awful and it was like we had forgotten how to win a game. At that point, promotion probably wasn't at the forefront of people's minds despite what might have been said publicly. The club had to be settled down first. Even last season, it seemed like the side was built around Jack and then his Kidney injury happened. There was a big difference between the side at the start of the season and the one playing March/April. The problem we have now is that the foundations were built on quick sand.

I think we started life in the Championship still punch drunk from our last season in the PL and also to some extent from the last few years of struggle in the top flight in general. I suspected Albion might have a similar problem this season after such a shambolic campaign on and off the pitch last year, reminiscent of our relegation season. The difference with us was that we had been used to losing (often heavily) over the previous few seasons, even before our relegation year.

[Steve67]

Under Di Matteo we started the season with 1 win in 12. The atmosphere around the place was awful and it was like we had forgotten how to win a game. At that point, promotion probably wasn't at the forefront of people's minds despite what might have been said publicly. The club had to be settled down first. Even last season, it seemed like the side was built around Jack and then his Kidney injury happened. There was a big difference between the side at the start of the season and the one playing March/April. The problem we have now is that the foundations were built on quick sand.

I think we started life in the Championship still punch drunk from our last season in the PL and also to some extent from the last few years of struggle in the top flight in general. I suspected Albion might have a similar problem this season after such a shambolic campaign on and off the pitch last year, reminiscent of our relegation season. The difference with us was that we had been used to losing (often heavily) over the previous few seasons, even before our relegation year.

A bit like Stoke are doing now, despite them buying all quality players. Got to get that losing mentality gone first.

[andyh]

With the additions this week, and whoever is left to come in, Bruce is in a position where he cannot justify failure.
Yet again he has fallen on his feet and whereas 2months ago we were staring into the abyss, we now have a completely new lease of life with an incredible squad, for this division.

He simply HAS to deliver, there are no excuses, not now.

[paul_e]

Under Di Matteo we started the season with 1 win in 12. The atmosphere around the place was awful and it was like we had forgotten how to win a game. At that point, promotion probably wasn't at the forefront of people's minds despite what might have been said publicly. The club had to be settled down first. Even last season, it seemed like the side was built around Jack and then his Kidney injury happened. There was a big difference between the side at the start of the season and the one playing March/April. The problem we have now is that the foundations were built on quick sand.

I think we started life in the Championship still punch drunk from our last season in the PL and also to some extent from the last few years of struggle in the top flight in general. I suspected Albion might have a similar problem this season after such a shambolic campaign on and off the pitch last year, reminiscent of our relegation season. The difference with us was that we had been used to losing (often heavily) over the previous few seasons, even before our relegation year.

I think West Brom will be fine because they accepted the relegation early and started planning for the new season, Moore got them playing a way that could help going forward and started working on the 'get straight back' plan before the players had chance to mope over going down. This is why I hated what Black did so much. He had a free hit to try to help the club prepare for the championship and he just didn't bother, deciding instead to keep faith with the players who'd got us there.  I get that he was a caretaker and had no obligation to do anything but the complete lack of professional pride was frightening. He sat watching us lose week after week and never even considered trying to address it.

On the table Legion posted, the problem with it is there are only 2 people on that list who never managed us in the top flight so it's impossible to judge Bruce against anyone except RDM.

[SoccerHQ]

It's tough when you come down even if your side looks o.k on paper.

I think it's to do with mentality more than ability.

Players so used to playing Arsenal, Man. United, Man. City year in year out they can't then raise themselves for likes of Wigan and Ipswich.

You've seen that with Stoke this week.

[Damo70]

It's tough when you come down even if your side looks o.k on paper.

I think it's to do with mentality more than ability.

Players so used to playing Arsenal, Man. United, Man. City year in year out they can't then raise themselves for likes of Wigan and Ipswich.

You've seen that with Stoke this week.

That made me think back to our promotion season under SGT. He brought in the likes of Gage, Sims, Lillis, Andy and Stuart Gray. Players who had spent most if not all of their careers at that level.

[rob_bridge]

It's tough when you come down even if your side looks o.k on paper.

I think it's to do with mentality more than ability.

Players so used to playing Arsenal, Man. United, Man. City year in year out they can't then raise themselves for likes of Wigan and Ipswich.

You've seen that with Stoke this week.

That made me think back to our promotion season under SGT. He brought in the likes of Gage, Sims, Lillis, Andy and Stuart Gray. Players who had spent most if not all of their careers at that level.

To be fair hadn't all of those other than Andy Gray played in the top league?