Steve Bruce

[Cheshire East Baggie]

I was open-minded about Bruce. His track record included several promotions, but the feedback from inside Villa Park and St James's wasn't good. With the benefit of hindsight it seems that Gourlay wanted a quick and easy fix by appointing an old mate he thought he could rely on and Bruce wanted to give Junior a leg-up into the world of coaching.

Why did it go on for so long? Is the current squad as self-confident as the gang of old pros who confronted the club about McDonough? Was Gourlay less inclined to take any notice of rumblings of discontent from within the camp? Either way, Bruce should never get another job in football (and tbf, if he'd shafted Peace the way he's shafted Lai he really wouldn't) and Gourlay should get a proper management structure in place asap or just get lost.

[albion_pigeon]

Gourmet is the real problem here... we're running as a one man band essentially.

[AmsterdamBaggie]

Gourmet is the real problem here... we're running as a one man band essentially.

Meatloaf?

[SW4Baggie]

Gourmet is the real problem here... we're running as a one man band essentially.

Not the end of the world short term, if that man is capable.

Unfortunately Ron isn’t, and it’s gone on too long.

[Hopalong]

In chronological order.

I wouldn't have sacked Ismael, but understand why it was difficult to keep him.
Bruce's appointment sort of made sense, if you bought into the Ismael was under achieving with the squad view.

Keeping Bruce in the summer was a mistake, but I think many, including myself, had reached a state of ambivalence, where thinking about the travails of the club were too painful.

Sacked at about the right time, unpopular view, but performance wise we started the season reasonably well , certainly the Watford and Burnley performances were a step up from anything I saw last season. 

But by the end of his tenure, it was clear that Bruce had no coherent strategy and was just trying lots of different strstegies, hoping rather than knowing, that one of them would work.

I think it would be comforting to think that Bruce was the problem at the club. But I don't think he was. But he definitely wasn't the solution to the problem.

Corberan might prove to be the solution to the problem, given time.

Thought Huddersfield looked to be probably the best side we played against last season, we were very fortunate to get a draw from that game.

Without having anything other than that flimsy evidence, he was my preferred option from all the names mentioned for the job.

And despite the last 2 games, this remains a very, very difficult job.

I remember thinking at the time Shabby that Hudds were the best team to grace the Hawthorns -  til the last 10 minutes!  It's well known that Mr Blobby doesn't do tactics and coach but let's not forget we were paying Agnew, Clemence and Blobby's son handsomely to do exactly that.