05 Oct 2018 18:38:45
I wrote on here last week before Bruce got sacked. And I wrote about the need for stability and how as fans we continuously call for stability, and loyalty but then in another breath call for heads at the first sign of poor form.
Tell me a manager out there that could take our team and not hit a rough patch. It's laughable just how fickle us Villa fans are.

Shoot me down all you like. Tell me just how bad the decisions are. I'm past caring because I know one thing and that is it doesn't matter who our next manager is. It could be mourinho or McCarthy, it wouldn't make any difference to us because at the first sign of poor form we would turn on him and call for his head. No loyalty whatsoever. We criticise Barry and Delph for no loyalty but we show none. We moan at players and boo and call for heads.

Was Steve Bruce perfect? No. Of course not but he offered us stability. Someone replied to me saying that after 100 games we'd showed our loyalty. How? Last season after 11 games we had 19 points and in that season we hit a few rough spots and people were against him but with all that and losing his parents he got 84 points in a season. 84 points! This season we have 15 points after 11 games and if we'd have scored that penalty we've be on 17 and joint 5th.

And we say his football is in the dark ages? When we beat wolves 4-1 was that awful football? No! He got 84 points and missed out on promotion by a goal. We forget that the championship is a tough league regardless of what squad you have. We forget that we have no god given right to just turn up and win because we're Aston Villa so that's what we expect. So many people in football, the people who actually get paid to work in football can't believe we've done this to him.
Now I read all the names we're linked with and some deluded fans think we should go for zidane or try and get conte? Anyone with half a brain would avoid us like the plague with how we treat them.

Throwing objects is down right disgusting. Again we're the laughing stock of football and the talking point - but it's our making. I've read on this very site people saying how "if we get Mellberg we'll stick with him through thick and thin" but when have we ever stuck with anyone through those thin bits? We don't, we just shout and moan and throw things to get our way - until the next manager has a bad run and then we'll want him out. In 10 or so years we've had 4 owners and several managers, all of which one by one us fans have called to go (except the new owners) and the only constant throughout all of this is us fans. Us moaning, unrealistic, over expectant fans. Maybe we need to look at ourselves.

Like I say, I'm here to be shot down and I'm sure I will be but I know one thing, whoever the new manager is, I'll remind you of this message in year or so when he hits a bad patch and you're calling for his head too. I'm a passionate villa fan as you all are and of course you're all entitled to your opinions - but if you look back through history - a lot of the comments are the same old comments, it's just about different managers and owners - maybe one day we'll learn and truely back one . through thick AND thin. UTV.

1.) 05 Oct 2018
05 Oct 2018 19:01:43
Great post mate well said, but I think Bruce had run his course and clutching at straws at times with his team selection trying to great cretin players into start line up and playing them out of position, I backed Bruce up until Tuesday night for 2nd game we started the night with w strikers on the pitch and finished with none a winger playing as a striker at the end
But I do agree with your post.

2.) 05 Oct 2018
05 Oct 2018 19:10:10
Mike your spot on with many of your points as you know I backed him all the way through but unfortunately football is a results business and Stevie lost his way towards the end of his reign. Nobody should shoot you down with this post mate after all its your opinion and its not just us who have fickle fans although I do believe we have the most. Some fans think we have a god given right to be in the PL well guess what we don't any fan who thinks otherwise is deluded. One thing is for sure though in my eyes SB done a fantastic job and should be apluaded not rideculed his failings should be applauded for at least he tried but unfortunately failed in the end.

3.) 05 Oct 2018
05 Oct 2018 21:07:39
Mike! Wow! Been saying these same things as long as I’ve been a member here, great to see a few beating this drum with me!

Sadly however, I do think it was time for Bruce to go. but the la I of respect shown towards him is disgusting, makes me ashamed to be a villan.

Already have people slagging moyes off! Imaging these guys if he’s appointed! They want him to come in, and fail, so they can say they told us so!

4.) 05 Oct 2018
05 Oct 2018 21:24:40
Glad to see moyes odds drifting 🤨.

5.) 06 Oct 2018
05 Oct 2018 23:33:07
Looks like Flackie is going to start a band. I think Flacks wants the drums Villa4eva is Ass (Sorry I meant Bass) Mainbob as lead singer as he has a voice and half WTW as Manager and I have naming rights and I'm going to call you Flackie and the Desparados. I ve put your name down for BGT guys. And I have it on good authority that David Walliams is going to press his golden buzzer💓💓.

6.) 06 Oct 2018
06 Oct 2018 00:03:16
Think we need to move on lads, Bruce is gone, we need to get behind the new manager - It won't be a Moyes or a Pardew, it'll be a young manager with new ideas and an identity, something we have lacked since the Wolves game.

The U23s won 8-0 tonight, surely 1 or 2 of them will be brought into the fold by a new manager, this would not have happened under the previous regime.

It can only get better so let's forget about Bruce, he leaves with a thank you from me and a massive cheque in his pocket. Time to move on!

7.) 06 Oct 2018
05 Oct 2018 23:37:39
Mike you mention you will remind us if it goes wrong in a year or so, I call this hedging your bets. You mention being shot down. Well I remember you shooting down many of us that saw the writing on the wall about Bruces demise along time ago. Football is a results industry, any manager taking the club's millions know this and when they fail they still get handsomely rewarded.

We pay our money to be entertained and this patently wasn't happening. I hear Wolves mentioned, one game. I hear we are disloyal and the manager should be allowed more time. Wolves, Fulham Watford have all flourished with change. Let's look at things in a year, I for one am sure Villa will be a better place without Bruce.

8.) 06 Oct 2018
06 Oct 2018 02:43:36
ScottCafu, you so wonderfully just displayed exactly what point I was trying to make. I’m not hedging anything. I’m Simply relying on what has happened historically to repeat itself. You proved my very point by saying I “shot many of you down when you saw Brucie demise a long time ago” which just proves that a long time ago, way before our poor form a number of fans including yourself were calling for his head. He’d only been our manager for just shy of 2 years yet a long time ago, regardless of an 84 point season you were still calling for his head. You then add the jewel to my crown by explaining that, like wolves and Fulham we should try change because they flourished with change - Scott, how much change would you like at a footballl club because in 12 years we’re about to appoint our tenth manager and we have just had our 4th set of owners. What won’t you be happy with next? The Name?

9.) 06 Oct 2018
06 Oct 2018 07:09:04
84 points doesn't matter if we fail to gain promotion - This is the key flaw in every Bruce apologists argument, we remain a championship club and under Bruce we looked a play off contender AT BEST!

We lacked any sort of identity, any sort of playing style, we played players out of position CONSTANTLY, we didn't have a settled defence nevermind a settled 11, there was no promotion of youth, we have 1 senior CB at the club, and most importantly the results have been absolutely appalling when you consider A. Our squad and B. The fixtures (We have played nobody of note bar Sheffield United and we all know how that went) .

Bruce may be a perfectly nice man, and he should leave with the gratitude of Villa fans but he has been absolutely appalling this season, we had zero chance of promotion under him, and just buying your time hoping you can say "I told you so" in 12 months is not the best way to welcome a new manager Villafanmike.

10.) 06 Oct 2018
06 Oct 2018 09:02:28
Scot and BK, you're proving his point by not reading his post properly and jumping straight to the same waffle from before.
Mike said that if someone like Moyes were appointed then the moaners would be the ones shouting 'told you so' in a year if we lose a couple.
Lack of reading skills appears to have resulted in people thinking Mike wants to say I told you so which isn't the case.

11.) 06 Oct 2018
06 Oct 2018 09:37:59
BK - as I wrote earlier, again Bruce was doomed to fail befor sthre season started with some of you. I know he played players out of position and it annoyed out of me but you’re still sat there just expecting automatic promotion because we’re Aston Villa. You say we would make play offs AT BEST but do we have the best squad in the league? No? We have about the 4th best squad in the league so was Bruce not achieving exactly where scouts we were? Do we have a better squad then Albion? Stoke? We know the answer. Did we have a great transfer window with lots of money to spend? No. Bruce struggled to buy anyone because of our financial issues. He lost a lot of players like terry and snodgrass. To expect him to lose all those players, to not have the chance to replace any until 4 or 5 days before the transfer window closes and then expect automatic success is so unrealistic. If whelan scores the penalty we are joint 5. Yes joint 5th EVEN with poor football. Even with players out of position. What a bad manager he was. I’m not a Bruce apologist, I’m a football realist and what that realism shows me is that this isn’t just a Bruce issue because it goes far beyond Bruce - it’s any manager or chairman we have. They’re always doomed at the start because they’re only a defeat away from a boo. 2 or 3 years before we got relegated we were lucky in as much as there were 3 worse teams. Even though we played players in position. We’ve replaced the awful chairman. We’ve got rid of all of those bad egg players . but oh, yes, that bad atmosphere is still stinking around Villa Park. We’ve changed absolutely everything yet that doom and gloom is still there. That doom as gloom is the fans and their expectation because we’ve been spoilt and been the top dogs of the midlands and now, because like every great football club that has suffered the same fate we have to work for it and that doesn’t just mean on the pitch, it means from the stands. Through thick and thin. Forest won the European cup twice And have equally gone through financial mess and look at them. Bruce made big mistakes but we’d have still been up there at the end of the season. Now, we start again. And we could get Pep himself, we’d still moan about something.

12.) 06 Oct 2018
06 Oct 2018 09:47:55
Ok brucie calm down. No need to use a fake name.

13.) 06 Oct 2018
06 Oct 2018 10:12:44
I'd disagree rknewell, perhaps I didn't make myself clear, I've mentioned it on previous posts since Bruce left - We need to move on, and together, as a fan base we have been split for a while now so we need to get back to basics and get behind the new manager. Apologies Villafanmike if I misinterpreted your post but this obsession with Bruce on the site, and in general, is getting tired.

Also, surely we know that Moyes won't be appointed lads, come on, we will appoint a young manager / coach with fresh ideas - To be honest it's a totally redundant argument until we see the new manager with the Jersey but I have faith in the new ownership that a brave and successful appointment will be made.

14.) 06 Oct 2018
06 Oct 2018 12:01:04
Villafanmike, I think we are actually making the same point in a lot of ways - I don't agree with you about Bruce, I think his time had come, yes we could be 5th but we aren't and the fact is we have played nobody, we played one of the top teams and got slaughtered.

But you are right, some people will never be happy - Is that indicative of Villa fans, perhaps, we are a funny bunch but on this occasion I think we can all agree that Bruce wasn't up to the job this season for one reason or another.

Anyway, as I've said before, he is gone, we should get behind the new manager and the team and hopefully move on together.