‘Win or lose to West Brom, Bruce, your time’s up’



Salut! Sunderland does not believe in kicking a man when he’s down. Neither
Pete Sixsmith nor Colin Randall, who broadly cobble this thing together, has so far joined the crowds gathering in the Tuileries to knit as Madame Guillotine does her work. One more bad result and that could well change. Others are made of hardier stuff; one more bad result would already be too late for our regular contributor and confirmed tricoteur, Jeremy Robson


Those of us
over a certain age have lost count of the relegation battles fought and lost as well as a few that we managed to win to avoid the dreaded drop.

There is a constant in all of those. If you go back over the last 30 years SAFC has consistently and repeatedly failed to dismiss a manager when the time has come.

In nearly all cases we waited too long for someone else to come in and give the team the kick start that was needed. Invariably we allow managers to fail.

Some managers have failed despite the resources given to them, eg Reid and now Bruce. Some have failed because they were simply not up to the job, ie Crosby, Buxton, Butcher, etc. Others may have done better had they been given some money to spend; Ashurst, Smith and McCarthy spring to mind.

Some posters have remarked that to dispense with Bruce now would be a kneejerk reaction. Well it might be if the horrible performances, the shambles in the transfer market, the inability to hang on to players he has signed himself (Bent, Gyan and Cana) went back only to August.

We are not in a slump. Wretched performances and lack of goals are not blips. They have come to represent a permanent state of affairs under Bruce. It is the status quo under his leadership. It is a reflection of him, his management and all that comes with it. It is not neither fleeting nor temporary nor unusual. It is the norm. Our league position is a product of our results and our results are the product of some of the most cackhanded man-managerment, tactical blunders and woeful motivation that we have ever endured as Sunderland supporters.

What distinguishes Bruce from his predecessors is the financial support that he has had from the board. He has spent millions and has had millions come back through the sales of Bent, Henderson and the loan of Gyan.

Despite the amount of money that has been invested we find ourselves with a strike force consisting of a Dane who is disillusioned with Arsenal, a teenager without a PL goal to his name and a young lad from Korea who can’t speak the language. Our senior striker is Fraizer Campbell who will miss most of this season, that is if he ever plays again.

Our current options when it comes to forwards encapsulates “progress” made in the last 12 months under Bruce. Add to that the millions wasted on Da Silva, Riveros, and Angeleri, combined with his haste to get rid of players like Andy Reid and Steed Malbranque for nothing when 32-year-olds at other clubs are commanding millions in transfer fees and you have a précis of Bruce’s failings.

Winning or losing this coming weekend’s fixture against West Brom will prove nothing that hasn’t already been proven several times over.

He’s a likeable, amenable sort of bloke, Steve Bruce, but he’s had his chance at managing this club. He has failed dismally at all levels and demonstrated unequivocally that it is beyond him. No more evidence is needed. That’s why he needs to be sacked and sacked now.

* Salut! Sunderland published the above article with a heavy heart, but this is an open forum. Many readers clearly agree with Jeremy, making Stoke and the second half at Anfield the only flukes of the season so far. And it is significant that the item has soared to the top position of the newsnow.co.uk Sunderland page. Others may feel Jeremy’s shots from outside the box have sailed high over the bar and landed in a world where reality has disappeared. Does Bruce deserve more time to show his team – for it is, indisputably, his team now – can come together and deliver? If you want space to express an opposing view, let me know at the e-mail link you see between the Easy-to-Book and Etineris hotel ads on the right. Or copy and paste colinrandall1@gmail.com

45 thoughts on “‘Win or lose to West Brom, Bruce, your time’s up’”

  1. Some excellent points made here by both Tom and Hilary. It doesn’t matter where the next manager comes from as long as it is someone with the character and ability to motivate the players we have to play to their ability.

    I too fear that a win against WBA will prolong the agony and personally I see no sense in that. As I stated in the original article the result will not make Bruce better or worse than he was on Tueday morning.

    There are a great number of comparisons that can be made between Bruce’s stalwarts and I have hopes for Mignolet which Tom doesn’t share. He is a whole lot better than Fulop Tom.

    We need a manager who can instil and maintain confidence in his team and his squad and more importantly to do the same with potential targets so that we don’t have further incidents reminscent of the Bent and Gyan fiascos. Hilary made this point a week or two back when she remarked that Bruce’s folksy ways just don’t cut it. He is a canny, amiable sort of guy but we’ve enough of those personal virtues in Mr Quinn and we don’t need it in the dug out. Let’s keep that in the board room.

  2. I agree that perhaps we do need to look beyond British managers. Hiddink would be good, and Jol would have been good. I still would like to see Moyes , although I do take the point some have made, that younger managers with appetite might fit the bill. However there is no movement as yet and Briuce is obviously in post for West Brom. What worries me is that if we win against West Brom this could drag on for weeks. Something needs to be done now.

  3. This Bruce debate has gone far beyond opinions on team selection, tactics etc.. One thing we SAFC fans of a certain vintage are experts in is failure. Against a Norwich side who had only one player in their ranks with any previous Premier League experience prior to this season, we were poorly set up, not motivated and looked like a team where the fundamentals were all wrong. Despite their lesser experience and despite facing a team where nearly every player had won international honours of some description, the Canaries were more up for it, better balanced and well organised. Outside the fact that Bruce has had five transfer windows to buy specialist left sided players etc., there has to be questions over the departures of key players, especially Bent and the timing of Gyan’s departure and even the uneccessary departure of the in form Ferdinand who can play right across the back line. In goal, Mignolet is not as good as Fulop and where is Westwood, brought to be number one? Four league wins in the last 20 games, Cup defeats at home to Notts County and away at Brighton, where Bruce has gone down in folklore by starting a Cup game in a competition without a striker on the field. Indeed that last folly encapsulates why so many have lost faith in a manager whose overall career record can be classed as average at best. If we can spend £13m on an overrated striker, what about trying very hard to invest it in a manager such as Ancelotti or Hiddink?

  4. I agree Pete. It’s time for a change. Someone who could effectively “grow with the job” and make something of the club themselves. Bruce didn’t have a great CV as a manager, anything but in hindsight which is a wonderful thing. Which managers do have a great unspoilt CV. Ferguson and Wenger, Moyes for maintaining an unsteady ship has won nothing. This is why we return constantly to O’Neill because he is the only British manager around who has won trophies and is out of work.

    I would much prefer to see us appoint someone with a real desire to succeed who has done well, albeit a little further down the pyramid. If they are interested in taking on the challenge then they will be available. Let’s just see some imagination this time and not another set of candidates off the merry go round!

    The only thing that I disagree with is that I can see no point in giving him a stay of execution. His record for 9 months has been abysmal and had it begun at the start of last season and not in Jan we would be down by now. Relegation is stamped through us like a stick of rock. It won’t change with him in charge.

  5. Should Bruce be dismissed from his post (and I think he has October to show the owner that he can make things work), it is absolutely imperative that the club has someone lined up to take over. I would imagine that Black would go with Bruce, as would Spink and Bertschin(an excellent coach).
    Maybe we need some new thinking and not the same old, same old, which O’Neill, Moyes and Hughes would bring. Adkins, Poyet, Lambert, men of that generation are desperate to get at a biggish club and would bring interesting and exciting football to Sunderland – if they were available.
    Mangement skills are closely linked to the style of football played. If the team plays free flowing football, players are buoyed up and happy – which may explain the glum faces at the Stadium this calendar year.
    Carlos Tevez as player manager, perhaps?

  6. I am amazed that he is still in the job after Monday. It’s clear that the tide has completely turned against him.

    Certainly Salut’s title to this piece (it was added by Salut and wasn’t mine), seems perfectly judged. He may have lost the dressing room, but he has most certainly lost the fans. There’s no question of that.

    I would hope that Niall distances himself from Bruce at this point because Mr Short’s exasperation with Bruce could otherwise extend to him.

  7. bruce has been like a baby in the candy shop , were ever else he has managed he has had no money to spend comes to us and spend spend spend. now like all greedy babys were feeling sick, mr bruce please go.

  8. If Bruce does go I cannot see us getting permission to speak to Moyes. I also wonder if O’Neill has had enough and is waiting for a final swan song closer to home…..back to Leicester maybe. Which leaves us with Hughes. Is he that much more tactically awarethan Bruce ? I honestly do not know. Would he be willing to work with a squad he has not put together?Someone on another site mentioned Ancelloti. Forget it ….like so many of the top overseas managers IMO he is only any good working with a top class squad. Probably not used making under performing players lift their games.e

  9. Nothing to add, except – really excellent first post DaveSAFC. I agree with everything you said – apart from the performance against Swansea – we should have been beaten. Also, all performances bar none, have been a step back from first half of last season and we’re supposed to be progressing!

  10. Having finally been convinced that Bruce must go, was not happy with his appointment but would have been delighted to be proved wrong, I feel obliged to throw my suggestions in for his replacement.

    Moyes would be my first choice, has kept Everton in the top half of the table for yonks on a shoe string budget and knows a canny player when he see’s one, is not consistently in the press moaning or expousing how he would be delighted if offered the England/ Man Utd job etc etc.

    He quietly goes about his business, he has had dust-ups in the past but that underlines that he is no pushover. Could we get him, I not sure unless he was given significant funds and a four/ five year time frame in which to build something. In fact give him the same terms and conditions as Bruce had and see what he could do.

  11. I would favour O’Neill (unlikely I know), Moyes or Hughes. I feel that the difficulty with Lambert or some of the other suggestions is that they are untried in the Premiership. I think that it is really important for us this time to appoint a manager who has worked successfully and consistently at Premiership level, who is a good tactician and has a professional attitude. Poyet will be good in time, but still risky at this point I think.

    I join others in expressing my support for Quinn. He has been the best thing that has happened to the Club in my many years as a supporter. There have been problems in his choice of managers. I would never have appointed Bruce, but at the time it seemed like it could possibly work and that he could establish us in the Premiership. It is the wider picture, in what he has done for the Club as a whole, for its place in the community that I think the full impact of his involvement can be seen.

  12. Whilst I wouldn’t say I was ‘pro Bruce’, I have been of the opinion he should be given longer despite all the callings for his head. I honestly believed that a lot of the failings of the team were out of his control (injuries, key players deciding to go elsewhere etc).

    For me, some of the performances this season have not been reflected in their negative results (we did enough in both the Derby and against swansea to win the games… The performances were there, but the results weren’t).

    Another factor for my more ‘forgiving’ approach was I was actually quite happy with the transfers we did in the summer. I wanted a proven striker (im sure we all did…), and I was upset we let nzobgia slip off our radar, But overall I was happy with the clubs dealings….

    …. I feel my patience has now evaporated however.

    The Norwich game showed the performance has now also gone, and unfortunetly the lack of positives to come out of the game has left me with no optimism for our next few games. As someone mentioned above, before our first game of the season, I couldn’t wait for things to kick off and had high (but realistic) expectations for the club…. Now I actually fear the approach of our games, and rarely enjoy not only attending them, but even the thought of them approaching.

    I’m afraid to say, I agree…. Brucies time has come. It’s not about this season anymore, but about the majority of his tenure. IMO we can turn this all into a positive: Bruce has brought in some decent and exciting players…. We now need a manager that will make them perform, and one who can bring in the elusive striker we need in January.

    Who we bring in, I have my own opinions…. But I’m sure you all do too, so to avoid my post being written off for not saying someone else’s preference, ill leave that for another thread. The only other thing I’m massively nervous about is the thought of losing Quinn (if as someone else mentioned, he feels in some way that if Bruce goes, he needs to). Quinn is part of the lifeblood of this club… A gentlemen, a fan, an honest man, .. And someone who I believe NEEDS to be part of the club.

    I, for one, hope that only one man needs to leave the club for us to progress.

    Dave – Long time reader, first time poster.

  13. Holloway, O’Neill, Hughes?

    My short list (in order) would be Lambert, Poyet, Ancelloti, Hughes, Benitez of the names that I think would be realistic options.

  14. I just hope that to save SB’s face we are not presented with coaching changes as being the answer.

    Jeremy Robson, in his article, used the phrase “Those of us over a certain age” and I think that I fall into that category.

    Certainly, I’m old enough to remember the fiascos with Viv Busby, Adrian Heath et al, as managers tried, desperately, to hold on to their jobs.

    As a sideline, the ONLY time, in the past, that I have ever thought that an SAFC manager HAD to go was when I was at the Manor Ground and I saw Kieron Brady refuse to run ONE yard to receive a ball, in an abject performance from the whole team.

    I knew then that Denis Smith’s time was up and made my opinions known , vociferously, to that effect.

  15. A few names to ponder. O’Neill is the one that everyone mentions. I don’t think he would want it.

    Mark Hughes would be the next on the list I’d have thought. What about Kevin Keegan? That would set the cat amongst the pigeons if nothing else! David Moyes may feel that he is due for a change.

    Paul Lambert whose side beat us the other night, and some candidates from outside the top division could include Nigel Adkins who has done a remarkable job at Southampton, and Gus Poyet. Should Ian Holloway’s name be dismissed? He showed that he had a real appetite for this division and with a bit of cash to spend he would have saved Blackpool. He knows a player does “Olly.”

    On the next appointment it’s important that the club shows some imagination. Get the best man for the job and not necessarily the biggest name.

  16. Quinn wouldn’t even consider it after his last experience Mr Taylor. Kevin Ball possibly as a short term contender. I do suspect that the “names” would be sounded out ahead of time. When Keane departed it was something of a shock, but not this time around.

  17. Tony makes a very good point. Given that Eric Black’s probably not up to the job (though could he be any worse than SB?), would it be possible/appropriate/desirable for Quinn to step back into the role until a permanent appointment could be made?

  18. Lots of comments about Bruce out but you only hear one name mentioned as a replacement. What if he’s not available, or doesn’t want the job?

  19. Birflatt Boy says:
    September 28, 2011 at 3:42 pm

    @Mr Johnson. We are absolutely in the same corner. The post was addressed to yourself, very much in support of your comments in response to one of the “fans” that I was referring to.”

    Undoubtedly, we are of the same mind on these issues.”

    My apologies, I thought that you were suggesting that I was in the “pro Bruce” camp.

    p.s I’m Phil (NOT Mr Johnson) – Not in a “ducky”way!!

    Read more: https://safc.blog/2011/09/win-or-lose-versus-wba-bruce-your-time-is-up/#ixzz1ZGAUsAkn
    Join FootballUnited.com for Real Fans & Real News

  20. Mr Johnson. We are absolutely in the same corner. The post was addressed to yourself, very much in support of your comments in response to one of the “fans” that I was referring to.

    Undoubtedly, we are of the same mind on these issues.

  21. Birflatt Boy says:
    September 28, 2011 at 3:14 pm

    Mr Johnson. There are a small number of fans (thankfully small) who seem to think that current (at any time) criticism of the manager or club is some form of heresy. It is not!

    I think your comment was aimed at the wrong person.

    If you were to read my previous comments (relating to this article) I think you will find that we would appear to be in the same corner!

  22. Mr Johnson. There are a small number of fans (thankfully small) who seem to think that current (at any time) criticism of the manager or club is some form of heresy. It is not!

    These same “fans” (and I will use the inverted commas happily as the people I am talking about are happy to describe critics as “so called fans” often enough) would blindly stand by the manager and the chairman etc seemingly indefinitely, until we were struggling in the Blue Square Premier within a whisker of being bankrupt and with tumbleweed blowing round the car park.

    They bury their heads in the sand, denying a stinking run of results for the whole of the calendar year (not just since August), dreadful failings in the transfer market despite having a king’s ransom to spend.

    We are not in the same position we were under Crosby, or Buxton, but that has nothing to do with Bruce as we were in a better state when he arrived, despite Keane’s ultimate failings. Are we better off than when he arrived? Are we better off than a year ago? I think the answer has to be a resounding “No” to both of these questions.

    If I recall correctly the Stoke game was only the second time in 10 home games that we have kept a clean sheet. We can’t score, and whilst that may be something that even the pro-Bruce brigade can agree upon, our defensive problems have been overlooked. We are in desperate straits right now and therefore we need to make changes. Mr Quinn, if not now, then when? How bad does it have to get?

  23. Ian_SAfc says:
    September 28, 2011 at 11:04 am

    Three of your comments.

    1) I think he is a good man manager. He has a good relationship with the players.

    2) However, I must concede that, tactically, I think he has been outdone a number of times.

    3) Give him a few more games. We have perhaps the best squad we’ve ever had, capable of the most attrative football seen yet at the SOL. My cup is half full!

    OK!!

    Do you, really, see those comments as being compatible?

    I don’t!!

    1) A good relationship with subordinates does not, always, mean respect!

    2) OK, you accept that he does not understand tactics, surely the first requirement for a manager at ANY level.

    3) How many more games would YOU give him, given that he is on course for a 29 point season (please see my post above).

    Sheesh!!!!!!!

  24. Bill Taylor says:
    September 28, 2011 at 1:30 pm

    “Except for our position in the table.”

    What’s with the “our” Bill, I have asked you this question, many times, before BUT you have, always, responded with nonsensical comments suggesting either that I could not read (the big words) or understand your article.

    This is, yet, another request for clarification that I am prepared to debate in public OR (to prevent other readers, of this blog, becoming bored) by email.

    Colin, please give Bill Taylor my email address if he requests it – although I don’t think that will.

  25. Have to admit that I think Jeremy has hit the nail on the head, thats the final one into Bruce’s coffin. He’s had time, he’s had money, he’s had some bad luck (but who doesn’t), he’s had chances, he’s had one or two great performances, but far too many poor ones. Consistency is king, and should be the starting point for any ambitious manager.

    Bruce has never established any consistency, unless you count the number of poor performances we seem able to string together, he has never convinced that he is the man for the job. On this score alone he doesn’t deserve to be the man in charge.

  26. Looks like a recall for Turner in the wake of the breaking news about Bramble. We are rapidly turning into the new Newcastle United.

  27. I think that Jeremy Robson’s article was spot on!

    To those, however, that would prefer to give SB more time I would like them to read the following statistics, which are all presented in the normal format of games played/games won/games drawn/games lost/goals for/goals against/points.

    Since February the 3rd.

    Home:

    10 – 2 – 0 – 8 – 15 – 22 – 6

    Away:

    10 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 9 – 16 – 9

    Total:

    20 – 4 – 3 – 13 – 24 – 38 – 15

    That is MORE than half of a season and if that form were to be reproduced for 38 games then the results would (to the nearest whole decimal point) be as follows:

    Home:

    19 – 4 – 0 – 15 – 29 – 42 – 12

    Away:

    19 – 4 – 5 – 10 – 17 – 30 – 17

    Total:

    38 – 8 – 5 – 25 – 46 – 72 – 29!!!!!!!!!!!!

    How can ANYONE think that could be acceptable?

    To continue with the picture painted in the introduction of “the crowds gathering in the Tuileries to knit as Madame Guillotine does her work” I think it is necessary for the club to find a Robespierre!

    Having said that I am, sincerely, hoping that NQ has not put his “head on the line” to defend his appointment because (IMHO) his departure would be a major loss to the club!

  28. To briefly address Ian’s points:
    Bruce has “bought many a good signing which he has sold on to good profit. The club is a business after all.”
    Yeah, in business to win games. It’s not a used-car dealership. Rather than buying and then selling them on, it would be nice if Bruce kept them for a while to do what they’re supposed to do: play football.
    “He has a good relationship with the players.” Maybe if he was less of a friend or indulgent father-figure, he could get them motivated to play well enough to overcome his tactical shortcomings.
    The Liverpool and Stoke games didn’t so much show that the team is capable of good things under Bruce as in spite of Bruce.
    Cup half full? No, cup broken!

  29. This site has always been a cauldron of negativity, but some of the points I agree with.
    Firstly, Bruce is very astute in the transfer market and has a head to balance the books. He has bought many a good signing which he has sold on to good profit. The club is a business after all.
    Secondly I think he is a good man manager. He has a good relationship with the players. Something Keane didn’t have.
    However, I must concede that, tactically, I think he has been outdone a number of times.
    On the other hand, I think we are capable of good things under Bruce. The Liverpool and Stoke game showed that.
    Remember , he has been dropped in it by Bent and Gyan and had a boatload of freak injuries. That said, he should have strengthened the attack before the season started.
    I’m not calling for Bruce’s head yet. Give him a few more games. We have perhaps the best squad we’ve ever had, capable of the most attrative football seen yet at the SOL. My cup is half full!

    • Ian: cauldron of negativity is a great phrase, and I see you casting Jeremy in the role of Head Witch, but it’s hardly fair. Of course, you could dip selectively into the vast archive and produce 10 extracts to “prove” your point. I could spend the same amount of time looking for upbeat stuff and probably double, treble or quadruple your score. I think on the whole that Salut! Sunderland has been a model of restraint on Bruce In/Bruce Out, as it was with Roy Keane. If you want real wall-to-wall negativity on SAFC I know where I could direct you …

  30. Get bruce out now before it’s too late!!! The fans have lost faith in him, we’re no longer looking forward to going to the games. Enough is enough.

  31. Julie, much as I respect your opinion, I have to disagree. I think that the point you make about Welbeck is pertinent, however. He is a good player and it was a good decision to take him on loan, but he is only playing to his potential since he left Sunderland. This is one of the major problems. Bruce has not got the best out of the players that he has bought. O’Shea may be in the autumn of his career, but he was only recently playing international football at the highest level. Playing for Sunderland, he just looks lost and bewildered. This team don’t look as if they will settle in any time soon.

  32. On Monday night I did something I have never done in over fifty years of following Sunderland. I watched that totally inept performance in total silence.

    After two minutes it was apparent that we were going to be harried and tormented by a team of players who were hungry for the ball, ran for one another and never gave up the cause. What did we do to combat this? Bugger all! I hope Mr Bruce took notice of the two goals conceded, created by getting the ball to the by-line and causing chaos through excellent crosses. Norwich use WINGERS (have you heard that term, Mr Bruce? One of them was even a left winger, bought from Huddersfield, who gave a lie to your statement that left wingers just can’t be found. We have an Irish lad who was on the bench on Monday, who, although he doesn’t have the experience, is a LEFT WINGER with good pace. Why didn’t you give him an opportunity to show what he could do, Mr Bruce?

    I’m sick of his mealy-mouthed comments after each poor performance. Others have commented on his inability to motivate players and to change the pattern of a game, but Monday highlighted to all and sundry that he is just not the man for this important job at our beloved club.

    I shall not go back and spend my pension watching his dross, until he has gone. Do the decent thing, Mr Bruce and sod off before you damage us irrevocably.

  33. I cant understand why some people on here are still supporting Bruce. The man is clueless!

    Are injuries not down to the management? yeah one or two can be bad luck but to have a constant line to the sick table screams of something going wrong with training methods.

    Bent and Gyan were signed by Bruce yet have gone on again just as quick – If they were brought in prior to his arrival then yeah they mught move on then but to leave after working with him for such a short time then again it screams of something gone wrong (we know Gyan went fot the money but had he had more of an affinity with the manager he may have stopped?).

    Yes there are lots of signings but do they not train together 5 days a week? surely they gel more on the training pitch 4 hours a day than 90 mins on a saturday?

    Sack him now and lets move on before we are to far adrift of mid table obscurity!

  34. Three more games? We wil be further down amoung the dead men!
    Bottom of the prem soon and at christmas, Hmmmmmm, where does that position usually leave a club? We all know the answer to that one, dont we?

  35. How can things become the statusquo after only a few games of the season?

    Unless you count last seasons run in that, in which case
    1) Injuries 2) Bent 3) Brand new squad 4) Gyan
    Have all added up and could explain the current situation. The transfer market was hardly a shambles, the players Bruce has brought in are good players – and Bruce cannot be blamed for losing Gyan after the transfer market closed.

    How different could the start of the season have been if Bruce had been able to play both Bendtner and Gyan together?

    Sacking Bruce now would be knee jerk, sacking him if we lose to WBA, Bolton and Villa (or only get a point or 2) would not be as by then we would have nearly played 1/3 of the seasons games and can judge Bruce on how the new squad has gelled and how it is performing. Monday’s game (against Norwich) will turn out to be the Kill or Cure of Bruce’s season imo – lets give him 3 or so games to see which it is.

  36. Sorry Bruce but your time is up. Playing 4-4-1-1 might work for Man Utd, Chelsea etc but our players are not good enough for this system. If it had been just the first six games this season fair enough but it stretches back to last season since Jan 1st we have P24 W8 D4 L12 and that is relegation form

  37. I have to agree Malcolm, I have not seen a Sunland Manager so bereft of ideas since the days of Butcher and Wilkinson.
    I also believe that Quinn and Short will of had him (SB) in the office and explained the situation.
    Whilst I believe Quinn is a gentleman of the highest calibre and loyal to his Club, Team, Manager, That is the order of priority for him. I believe he will see the Manager fall before the team and Club. Lets face it he sacked himself.
    If no action is taken soon I can see us in the usual dog fight.

  38. I am a regular reader of different websites and am very rarely a writer. I am not going to argue with the points made because some of them are difficult to defend, but his opinions are far from being balanced. What Mr Robson hasn’t considered is that rhetoric of this type is damaging to the team, football is a game of confidence look at Blackpool in the first half of last lesson.

    During the first half of last season we were riding high with the same manager, Mr Robson must have forgotten about the unprecedented injury problems we had in the second half of last season.

    I have no problem with alternate views to my own, all I request is patience, if you consider that you are a true supporter please be e reasonable and reflect that we are a team in transition and time is required.
    Last season, a number of supporters were questioning Mr Bruce for playing the then mediocre Danny Wellbeck, look at him now! Mr Robson has written off 3 young strikers in the same manner, please get behind them and give them time.

  39. The responsibility for the clubs well being should no longer in the managers hands. Bruce has failed to strengthen despite millions being spent. In fact he has done the opposite, selling 3 decent forwards in 18 months, two of whom most certainly asked (begged) for a transfer. Jones too probably, but that move was so cloak and dagger we’ll probably never know. The turnover of players over the last two years tells its own story, the South American flops now largely forgotten, due to the Bent and Gyan ‘shock’ departures. We are weak and the performances prove it. Constantly playing people out of position just adds to the confusion and for periods of the Norwich game we played a definite 5 3 1 1 formation whilst kieran and Seb worked out who was going to be left back! Cattermole looks Championship bound(Boro probably) and Bruce has already got O’Shea and Brown looking lost. Seb and Vaughan look half decent, but ask yourself if we have one player who the top 6 would be interested in? A total lack of matchwinners means we are going to struggle to survive, let alone finish above tenth. He’s a walking disaster on the scale of Lawrie Mac, and I don’t want to be there again…..Act now Ellis as Niall doesn’t seem to be with it at the moment. And why on eartht did he buy Elmo! And it’s NOT because he’s a Geordie, he simply hasn’t got the required skills for the job.

  40. Monday was shocking. I have been prepared to stick with Bruce feeling that perhaps some of the transfers have not been of his making, but it was the nature of the performance, rather than the result which makes me think he is at the end of the line.

    The one positive, Bendtner looks better than Gyan was, does not hide the fact that after 10 minutes the team lacked spirit and no motivation was coming from the bench.

    Bramble was guilty of ball watching for both goals. Evidence of a lack of attention to detail on the training ground? Sess was having a shocker and stayed on far too long.

    When things are not going well SB’s reaction seems to bring on another two strikers whilst removing the midfielders who may have been able to provide the service.

    It looks like lessons are not being learned, nothing is changing so I’m afraid that the only way things will change is by bringing in a fresh approach. Even my patience is running out.

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