Past Managers, Love or Hate?

[VillaTim]

Worst manager for me was Bruce

Hated every single minute of his tenure knew it was never going to work The bloke was useless
He had the best and most expensive squad in the championship and managed to finish 13
Honestly I’d back myself to have done better

The following season when we should’ve pissed the league by 10 clear points we get to the play-off final and as usual play Bruceball and deservedly lose

Football was rubbish. The tactics were rubbish. Bruce was rubbish

His tactics were Neanderthal, he got a few results because we in general we had better players than anybody else, but he still managed to turn that squad into a total box standard mid table championship team, now that he was the king of

He never started anything he never steadied any ship, he never stopped any rot He just continued it in the most boring fashion imaginable, supporting Villa during his time was absolutely dire

The day he left was a great day for me and Villa and we never looked back
Everywhere he’s gone since he’s stunk the place out

He was absolutely rubbish



( he was a very good player mind but it don’t count because it wasn’t for us)

Worse than Gerrard ? Yeah ok what a load of B******s.

[john e]

Worst manager for me was Bruce

Hated every single minute of his tenure knew it was never going to work The bloke was useless
He had the best and most expensive squad in the championship and managed to finish 13
Honestly I’d back myself to have done better

The following season when we should’ve pissed the league by 10 clear points we get to the play-off final and as usual play Bruceball and deservedly lose

Football was rubbish. The tactics were rubbish. Bruce was rubbish

His tactics were Neanderthal, he got a few results because we in general we had better players than anybody else, but he still managed to turn that squad into a total box standard mid table championship team, now that he was the king of

He never started anything he never steadied any ship, he never stopped any rot He just continued it in the most boring fashion imaginable, supporting Villa during his time was absolutely dire

The day he left was a great day for me and Villa and we never looked back
Everywhere he’s gone since he’s stunk the place out

He was absolutely rubbish



( he was a very good player mind but it don’t count because it wasn’t for us)

Worse than Gerrard ? Yeah ok what a load of B******s.

By a distance

[Clampy]

He did stop the rot, well he stopped us losing. We'd have gone all the way down if it had carried on seeing as we only picked up 16 points the season before. He should have done a lot better than he did with the resources he had but give me him over 'look me in the eye' Gerrard anyday.

[paul_e]

I agree with every word of John's post. We've had plenty of bad managers but Bruce gets far more credit than he deserved by being average (and fucking boring) after taking us over at our lowest point since the 60s. That Bruce has had the jobs he's been given and has somehow held on to a reputation that he's anything other than a lazy and useless sack of shit who couldn't be replaced by any of millions of football manager players is scary.

I never liked or wanted him but when he gave it the big un after the rotherham game just before he was sacked summed the prick up perfectly, fans were angry after 6 games without a win and he couldn't wait to moan about how difficult it was and how unfair it was for fans to expect him to do his fucking job.

I honestly believe the cabbage and everything it represented is the single most important event in turning us into what we are now.

As for comparisons with Gerrard I think they were both shit but at least with Gerrard we didn't have a whole bunch of evidence showing us how poor he was and how badly he managed his squads when we decided he was 'exactly what we needed'. Gerrard, even if people won't admit it, was a roll of the dice to see if his name and reputation could make up for his inexperience, Bruce was meant to be a sure thing.

[PeterWithesShin]

Bruce relied on the ability of our superior players in a poor league to pull off some magic far too often. Like Gregory, MON, Gerrard, to name a few others, he lacked the ability to coach them to be better as both individuals and as a tactically intelligent team.

[john e]

I agree with every word of Paul e’s post

[paul_e]

Bruce relied on the ability of our superior players in a poor league to pull off some magic far too often. Like Gregory, MON, Gerrard, to name a few others, he lacked the ability to coach them to be better as both individuals and as a tactically intelligent team.

Yep, and the bold bit is why he's worse than the others and I think you're a little harsh on Gregory there who was just about still part of an era in English football where almost everyone did that. The rest of them saw what people like Wenger had done and decided competence wasn't for them.

[Sexual Ealing]

I agree with the Es (apart from the Gerrard bit)

[Drummond]

Gerrard was just an all-round ******.

[VILLA MOLE]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7eKDkLNlp-/?igsh=MWRsM2d5N3BsbzdzZw==

[Richard E]

Not getting one of the biggest clubs in England relegated to the third division is hardly an achievement deserving of credit. Bruce was crap. The play off final against Fulham was one of the all time lows.

[Clampy]

Not getting one of the biggest clubs in England relegated to the third division is hardly an achievement deserving of credit. Bruce was crap. The play off final against Fulham was one of the all time lows.

It's not credit as such, John said he didn't stop the rot and he did but then again, I'm sure anybody would have. Like I said though, with what he had to work with he should have done a whole lot better but he's not one I look back at with any hatred.

[wince]

For me I loved BFR, Brian Little, Deano and Lord Emery.

Hated Stevie G string, O Dreary and Mr Mumbles. And Tim nice but dim.

[Risso]

I've probably done this before, so hopefully it's vaguely consistent, but my popularity rating for managers of the Premier League era is as follows:

Great managers

Emery
Little
Atkinson
Gregory
Smith
Sherwood
Gerrard
McLeish
Lambert
Di Matteo
Garde
Bruce
Houllier
O'Leary
O'Neill

Absolute pillocks

Emery has now just shaded it over Sir Brian for me, because achieving 4th with the injuries he had, whilst retaining his positive demeanour and politeness shows what a great bloke he is. The bottom four I really, really dislike intensely. The ones in the middle (below Smith) are a bit of a morass of rubbish and/or being twats.

[Rigadon]

I've probably done this before, so hopefully it's vaguely consistent, but my popularity rating for managers of the Premier League era is as follows:

Great managers

Emery
Little
Atkinson
Gregory
Smith
Sherwood
Gerrard
McLeish
Lambert
Di Matteo
Garde
Bruce
Houllier
O'Leary
O'Neill

Absolute pillocks

Emery has now just shaded it over Sir Brian for me, because achieving 4th with the injuries he had, whilst retaining his positive demeanour and politeness shows what a great bloke he is. The bottom four I really, really dislike intensely. The ones in the middle (below Smith) are a bit of a morass of rubbish and/or being twats.

That Sherwood is as high on that list as he is (I’d have MON above him but I understand the disdain) is fuckin nuts!  So many shite managers.

Thank the lord above we have finally got a great one now.