Taxi for Steve Bruce?
- Thread starter Plum
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I know they are on a bad run but the geordies are deluded, where exactly do they think they should be. Even if bruce leaves, they are a bottom half team
I'd have him back here in a heartbeat.. not that it would ever occur mind.
He's fulfilled his dream. Even if he did get sacked, he can sleep easy. His team has been ravaged by Covid in fairness to him, but I dont think that will help him.
Dead man walking. Very sad. I loved SB here. He gave it his best.
He's on a bit of a hiding to nothing there, the fans are not behind him on the whole, and the owner is not really supporting him player-wise and add Coronavirus into the mix he has one hand tied behind his back.
One less hand by comparison to when he was at City
I bet he regrets leaving here. Reading the Newcastle version of the HDM and Bruce is a dead man walking. It cannot be easy managing a football club were 99.9% of the support want your head on a stick.
Virtually every time I've been to Newcastle to see City play them there has been a demonstration of some sort going on.
Deluded Geordies. Even when they won the Fairs Cup in the 60's it was by default and they were only in it because Newcastle as a city was a host city for some European event. There were about ten clubs who finished above them in the league that season who would normally have qualified for the competition but all were barred because of some technicality.
If I was Brucie I'd walk, spend some time in his villa in Portugal then get on the MOTD pundit bandwagon, money for old rope with no pressure at all.
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Newcastle were not in it because they were a host city for some European event. Though in the early days it was for cities which had held trade fairs. That was dropped but they retained the rule where only one club from a city could enter which with Man Utd winning the European Cup in 1968 and other circumstances meant Newcastle in 10th got in. I suppose you could say it was a sign of the strength of the League then that the 10th placed club could win it. In fact English clubs won the last four. UEFA took it over and do not recognise Fairs Cup wins though strangely FIFA do. When talking to fans of TWS I, of course, opt for the UEFA view which means Leeds haven't won a European trophy.
It was a unique set of circumstances which were unlikely to be repeated which saw them qualify.
Cut and paste job-
Joe Harvey's side had actually finished tenth in the First Division; well behind teams who might otherwise have qualified.
Manchester City had won the title that year and they were joined by runners-up Manchester United in qualifying for the 1968/69 European Cup.
Third-placed Liverpool, meanwhile, qualified for the 1968/69 Fairs Cup and they would be joined by fourth-placed Leeds United, who were assured of their place after going on to win the tournament in September 1968.
With the Yorkshire outfit lifting the cup, it meant two more places were available to English teams.
'One club per city'
One of the quirks of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was that, unlike the European Cup, only one club per city could participate in the competition each season.
It meant that despite finishing fifth, Everton could not qualify owing to city-rivals Liverpool already being involved and the Toffees were forced to forfeit playing European football.
Everton's place instead went to sixth-placed Chelsea, with the knock-on effect of ensuring the Blues' London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur - who had finished seventh, would also forfeit the third and final place.
The domino effect did not stop there. West Bromwich Albion finished eighth in the First Division but also went on to win the FA Cup, ensuring they would take part in the 1968/69 European Cup Winners' Cup rather than the Fairs Cup.
Just as Tottenham were forced to concede their place, so to were Arsenal in ninth position; owing only to their London postcode and the inclusion of Chelsea.
And so the final place fell to Newcastle United, who would be mixing it with elite sides from across the continent for the very first time.
So, in a nutshell, they weren't in by default. They were in because of the rules of the competition. Were we in Europe by default after ending low down the league and losing in a Cup Final? Or because of the rules of the competition as it was then?
Neither were they there because they were holding a European event there.
A bit like employing a mechanic to repair your car engine but only allowing him (or her) to use the tools you provide, a lump hammer, two posi drive screw drivers, a 9/16 combination spanner and a selection of assorted whitworth sockets.
I would tell the boss to do one.
When was the last time a manager/coach* bought a player? Doesn't happen anymore. Especially in the top leagues. I doubt if Frank Lampard had much say in the purchase of Werner and the other one, but there failure to produce got him the tintack. The same for Brucie...
* delete were appropriate
* delete were appropriate
Which is what happened here with Ehab, and he did tell the boss to do one.