A Serious question about Bruce?

[BaggieBlood]

Only joking.

No attention seeking pr ick here defending Lai and deflecting the attention away from his lack of player investment and instead blaming the managers.

Apart from maybe the ever optimistic Soulman no one can honestly think we will do what we did to the dings on its 20th anniversary and make up the 11 points difference and on this occasion scrape the play offs and then win at Wembley.

So for the rest of us, what do you think will happen when we stay up on the last day of the season.

Will it be a reality check for Lai meaning he will spend the final parachute payment on a last throw of the dice or will he think 2 summers' of no player purchases will suffice for this "great" squad we have?

Is Bruce the man to take us forward or just another Pardew who is doing the rounds topping up his pension fund (the 71 guy who I sit next to and who has seen it all said tonight he thinks if we lose the next 3 he thinks he'll get the boot)?

Do we try to persuade someone like Farke to leave his job and come to us and bring his extensive knowledge of the european player market or do we go for a young manager like Critchley?

In line with recent transfer decisions do we give Carroll a 5 year contract with the option of 6th year in his favour when his short term deal ends in the summer?

Do we instead just watch the Albion womens team as they have more balls than our "great" squad?

[Dubbag]

With the current turmoil in finance markets over Russia and the way huge amounts of money are now going to not be paid due to constraints on banks......I think Lao may feel even more nervous then before. I think his exit strategy may be quickened..
Do think the club needs to reapprais its focus....but that would mean having to stay in this division for a few more years.

I don't think promotion actually would help now. Lao needs to realise his investment was a poor decision.

[Yarmbaggie]

With the current turmoil in finance markets over Russia and the way huge amounts of money are now going to not be paid due to constraints on banks......I think Lao may feel even more nervous then before. I think his exit strategy may be quickened..
Do think the club needs to reapprais its focus....but that would mean having to stay in this division for a few more years.

I don't think promotion actually would help now. Lao needs to realise his investment was a poor decision.

I totally agree that Lai hasn’t got a clue about football. However, I presume he must be a decent businessman?

The one thing I am sure that Lai is well aware of, and has been for sometime, is that his investment was a poor decision.

He bought the club in July 2016 and look at the Accounts since then:

Year to 30/6/16. . Turnover £98.3m. Avg att. 24.6k. STs 17.9k
30/6/17. t/o. £137.9m. Avg att 23.9k. STs 16.8k
30/6/18. t/o. £124.8m. Avg att 24.5k. STs 17.4k
30/6/19. T/o. £70.9m. Avg att. 24.1k. STs 17.8k
13 mths ro 31/7/20. T/o. £53.7m. Avg att. 24.1k. STS 17.7k. Avg based up to end of Feb 20 Wigan game

Yes Covid, yes Championship for 2 seasons but hey not a business I would like to own. Would you? Also would you buy it now, I wouldn’t.

[Leicesterbaggie]

The title of this thread is 'A serious question about Bruce'. What my concern is that he appears to be making the same mistakes as Ismael by playing the same players and expecting different outcomes. Also, as with Ismael, the reluctance to play TGH. Why, I haven't a clue as we have no drive or creativity in midfield. It just doesn't make sense.
We started the season by breaking the record for the best start to a season in the club's history to probably one of the worst runs in our history. I believe that this is a direct result of Ismael's style of play which has drained the life blood out of this squad. Promotion and the play-offs are now out of the question and we are now playing for the pride of this football club.

[Yarmbaggie]

The title of this thread is 'A serious question about Bruce'. What my concern is that he appears to be making the same mistakes as Ismael by playing the same players and expecting different outcomes. Also, as with Ismael, the reluctance to play TGH. Why, I haven't a clue as we have no drive or creativity in midfield. It just doesn't make sense.
We started the season by breaking the record for the best start to a season in the club's history to probably one of the worst runs in our history. I believe that this is a direct result of Ismael's style of play which has drained the life blood out of this squad. Promotion and the play-offs are now out of the question and we are now playing for the pride of this football club.

Agree with all that.

Despite all the pressure he was under at Newcastle from the fans, and press, he just stuck to his way of playing. He just trusted some players and others never got a look in.

He has a tried and tested way of doing things previously and doesn’t seem to have a plan B for all he says he is going to try different players/systems.

Yes still early days for him but not impressed at all so far. Couldn’t believe how passive he was at Boro on the line when it was obvious we were drifting into a defeat as soon as Wilder changed things. No apparent plan B or even any thoughts about what to do at all as far as I could see.

[SwedishBaggie]

The title of this thread is 'A serious question about Bruce'. What my concern is that he appears to be making the same mistakes as Ismael by playing the same players and expecting different outcomes. Also, as with Ismael, the reluctance to play TGH. Why, I haven't a clue as we have no drive or creativity in midfield. It just doesn't make sense.
We started the season by breaking the record for the best start to a season in the club's history to probably one of the worst runs in our history. I believe that this is a direct result of Ismael's style of play which has drained the life blood out of this squad. Promotion and the play-offs are now out of the question and we are now playing for the pride of this football club.

Ismaël played TGH and youngsters more than Bruce seems willing to do.

[Leicesterbaggie]

Ismaël played TGH and youngsters more than Bruce seems willing to do.

To be honest Swedish, Ishmael only played TGH when he had no other options. When others became available he was sidelined.

[SwedishBaggie]

To be honest Swedish, Ishmael only played TGH when he had no other options. When others became available he was sidelined.

I don’t think all options were exhausted the (few) times TGH (and Fellows) figured. But, saying that, he could and should have used them more often. Just seems like Bruce is even more disinclined to use youngsters, time will tell?

[regis80]

The title of this thread is 'A serious question about Bruce'. What my concern is that he appears to be making the same mistakes as Ismael by playing the same players and expecting different outcomes. Also, as with Ismael, the reluctance to play TGH. Why, I haven't a clue as we have no drive or creativity in midfield. It just doesn't make sense.
We started the season by breaking the record for the best start to a season in the club's history to probably one of the worst runs in our history. I believe that this is a direct result of Ismael's style of play which has drained the life blood out of this squad. Promotion and the play-offs are now out of the question and we are now playing for the pride of this football club.

Exactly what i’ve been thinking, that Ismael killed our squad. It’s cost us dearly by appointing him in the first place.

[baggiematt]

Val used some youth and did so quite well I thought. But he decimated us by his recruitment strategy, bringing in no pace or creativity. Some say he didn't have the money, but I see a bloke who used what little we had on players not up to the standard and targeted the wrong types of players, i.e. did we need Mowatt and Mulumby?

Many sides have a negative net spend but have done well in bringing in good loans or cheap deals, like Bournemouth and Middlesborough who are stronger than when the season started. That's good management.

Bruce has been a shambles both in terms of team selection and tactics. The three main performers under Val were TGH, Kipre and Clarke of which none are now getting a look in. What I don't get is why he's reluctant to play TGH but played that plonker Castro who pretty much cost us the match with his dire defending for the first goal. Castro hasn't been knocking on the door in the U23's is my understanding. O'Shea isn't fit and cost us against Middlesborough. Is Bruce even attending training?

Our next appointment and the business we do in the summer is going to be critical for our league survival. Get it wrong and we're f*cked.