In or out for Bruce

[bongosdad]

If we win or loose I want Bruce to stay. If we go up he deserves to stay. If we loose I think he should stay because of consistency/team moral and I would guess some players would follow him if he does go.

[TrianonDave]

Goooooooo now!

[stateside]

Think he should be made Director of football. One of his backroom staff take over.

Our team will look a lot different next season no matter who is the boss.

[BaggieBlood]

After seeing Brucey on the touchline it looks everything goes in when it comes to him.

I wondered where flabby gobblesitall was today, and now I know where.

Bruce has eaten him.

[freer]

Baggieblood

Your a living testament why Ireland's pro abortion campaign was a landslide success

[Baggiemadguern]

Baggieblood

Your a living testament why Ireland's pro abortion campaign was a landslide success

That is a class repost, it had me in stitches. XD

Unlucky yesterday, truth is, no one actually died. Football is only a game often soured by the types that follow it.

Have a good summer all or winter if your in the Southern Hemisphere.

[1877wolf]

Baggieblood

Your a living testament why Ireland's pro abortion campaign was a landslide success

:D

Brilliant

[westcountryvillain]

Back on topic - I think he needs to stay as the revolving door of AVFC has got us nowhere and Bruce has steadied the ship, winning more games in a season than the last 2 combined. I also believe we have a greater chance of promotion with him than without him, he has the experience and know-how.

However if he is to go I hope it's very soon to give enough time for a replacement to come in and assemble the squad before pre-season friendlies.

[bbvilla]

Back on topic - I think he needs to stay as the revolving door of AVFC has got us nowhere and Bruce has steadied the ship, winning more games in a season than the last 2 combined. I also believe we have a greater chance of promotion with him than without him, he has the experience and know-how.

However if he is to go I hope it's very soon to give enough time for a replacement to come in and assemble the squad before pre-season friendlies.

Oh yes, the topic. Take your point WCV but I don't think 2 years is quite a revolving door. For me, Steve Bruce thanks a lot for getting us to here but now we need to change tack for the final push and start playing attacking football which utilises a proper midfield to support the strikers. A bit like Fulham. Not quite dinosaurs v spring chickens at Wembley but not far off, Jack may well be our Sessignon but where's our Cairney, Fredericks, Johanson etc. The loaners going back, Terry probably over plus other oldies out means a rebuild based on youth, does anybody really think Bruce is the man to do that?

I hear Quique is available O:)

[westcountryvillain]

SB has our highest post-war win rate at 47%, the only former managers that get close in modern times all did at least 3 years. Bruce hasn't even served 2 yet and has won almost as many games since Oct '16 than we managed in the previous 4 years.

No Villa manager has EVER reached 50% and he's our 11th manager in 20 years so on average we change manager more than once in a 2 year period. If that isn't a revolving door then what is? To win promotion you need to win games so the evidence makes a compelling case for giving Bruce another crack at it.

[bongosdad]

Spot on westcountry

[samhubball]

Steve Bruce is going to be a sought after manager. Once again he has proved to be able to get a team to the playoffs. And with the toss of a coin we didn't go up. Baggieal can tell us all about being a tosser. I'd rather be a team with SB than without

[VillaRosie]

http://astonvillacentral.com/squad/contracts/


Now minus the loan players this is our current squad.


Obviously the out of contracts are listed on the left.

Definitely keep the faith with SB, we have thrown enough money down the drain with compensation payments.

[freer]

Steve Bruce

• Is a genuinely nice guy

• Steve came up short, ultimately due to his penchant of utilising aged/experienced players set up to grind out results, brave attempt but no cigar !

Steve Bruce next term ?

• Requires an enhanced awareness in tactical nous to compete against varied/different styles

• Necessity states, has to incorporate our youth getting our side playing on the front foot

• Ensure we are more inventive, Not so dependant on Jack Grealish

The $50,000 question guys is Steve Bruce capable of such a modification in his modus operandi ?

Answers on a postcard please

[picasso]

We are going to be losing enough people already without losing the manager too. His tactics may be a little too negative but they have been the bedrock of turning our club around since he’s been here.

His appeal to players cannot be underestimated either. They all seem to like working for him and it appears he was solely responsible for getting Terry, Snodgrass and Johnson to the club such is his influence. Let’s hope it stands for something next season too!

[Exiledvillan]

SB has had the guts of 2 seasons playing sit back and try & sneak one at the other end. Yet on the 4 or 5 times during this period when he has had to attack full pelt, or at least on the front foot, we have mullered all comers. His squad are not even able for ‘Bruce Ball’, only Hutts and Grabban are ‘Hoof’ players. Maybe he uses these tactics cos he can’t coach the others to pass to a teammate.

1st season, the play offs were there for the taking but we lost 5 on the bounce at the beginning of the year. SEASON A FAILURE

2nd season, 10pts from 27 in the opening 9 matches and 4pts from 15 in the spring denied us automatic promotion.

SB said all season his target was 2pts a game for promotion, his words. He was right, 92pts would have won automatic promotion, we got 83. Ist half tactics were appalling on Saturday, an absolute disgrace. SEASON A FAILURE, not cos of one game at Wembley, but over 46 games this past season.

He had the biggest squad, highest wage bill, largest backroom resources. He has failed.

I believed he was the ideal man for this season, how wrong I was.

Now? It does surprise me that this is even up for discussion.

[freer]

We are going to be losing enough people already without losing the manager too. His tactics may be a little too negative but they have been the bedrock of turning our club around since he’s been here.

His appeal to players cannot be underestimated either. They all seem to like working for him and it appears he was solely responsible for getting Terry, Snodgrass and Johnson to the club such is his influence. Let’s hope it stands for something next season too!

Obviously S B was instrumental in influencing players to commit to A V F C, however Tony Xia sanctioned/bankrolled these loans

My concerns i.e. Saturday V Fulham

a) WE should be proactive NOT reactive to their threat

b)Brutally illustrated our lack of a “plan B” whilst we were being over run in every department

[ozfan]

Bloody hell the Baggies are back.

Can't quite believe the Anti Bruce stuff all over the net. Villa fans turning on each other in the nastiest of ways.What I haven't seen from the militant Bruce out dandyclub is viable suggestions on who would take us one step further. Sacking a manager who took you to the playoff final makes no sense at all.

[bbvilla]

Exiled has it right. I stood (!) in my seat at Wembley looking at Jokanovic and Bruce and knowing which one should be at Villa. The first half was embarrasingly bad just like QPR and Norwich where we lost the automatic promotion and it was clear Bruce had no desire or ability to change it. Second half was a gutsy backs against the wall job, could have nicked an equaliser but they could equally have been 3-0 up. We were outrun, outpassed and ultimately outclassed and who could deny Fulham deserved it.

OK what now. I can't believe people are even considering another season of this football and given the parachute ending, losing probably 8 of our players and needing to find and coach youth it simply cannot be Steve Bruce. This is not "Villa fans turning on each other", it is simply assessing the best way forward for our club in what is a unique stage in our history where we have consolidated our position in the 2nd divison with an aging defensive team and now to need to kick on with a fresh approach to get promotion. Take the emotion out of it and think football.

[westcountryvillain]

Feels like a massive gamble to twist and not stick given Bruce's track record in this league, Newcastle kept Rafa and it paid off - the football I saw from them was terrible but the difference was they went down by a narrow margin & retained several players. When we went down we needed wholesale changes, it nearly worked but yes he has failed. Brighton stuck with Hughton after missing out and went up automatically last season and have stayed up - he for me would be the one for us if Bruce were to go.

[yubbywelch]

Is David Villa available?