Gotta say - where the **** are all the Bruce sympathisers?! Only thing he ever did right was not sign Chris wood. lol
Steve Bruce now has the unenviable record of not having won a competitive game of football since May 2021. Suspect he would still be in charge if the takeover hadn't gone through.
They're pointing out that howe struggled himself until 100 million was spent. They've got a point, however there's actually only a small chunk playing atm and he's lost key players. Bruce is a crap manager, but he did do aswel as rafa Benitez
I think the problem with this point is that it doesn't account for the transition from backs to the wall defending to front foot pressing. There's jsut been such a radical change of approach that it's going to take time for any bunch of players to get used to it.
That's true, but from the outside looking in they see the top line only. Both sides have a valid point
Yeah this. Clearly there will be those who point to the transfer funds, but if it had still been Bruce with that extra budget we'd have still played ****e football, still be bottom 3 and he'd still be spouting his usual bull. Eddie had changed the play and changed the feeling in the dressing room. You don't do that overnight. He's actually worked wonders to do it so quickly, as the players had so many years of standing off and not wanting possession (under both Rafa and Bruce).
Not forgetting that he had to get them fitter as well in the middle of the season. CC’s just on the wind up.
Indeed, transfers were only part of the problem. Bottom line is Ashley just appointed negative **** hawks like Bruce and Rafa, then didn't give them any money, then gave them **** facilities with bin ice baths etc, and so on so forth. We've moved on, we now have a modern manager trying to attack. We've invested in the squad and in time we will upgrade the entire infrastructure. Just all things all fans knew. I have some sympathy with Bruce and Rafa in terms of investment making their job harder, but we are well shot of both and looking to work in the modern game now. You are quite correct though, its looking for excuses. The Rafa sympathisers (who were great in number) and Rafa himself kept telling us we had to play **** football because you get battered if you open up or press. The Bruce sympathisers (were there many?) and Bruce likewise. The reality was all around us at other clubs like Southampton etc showing you could press and play modern football on tight budgets. These guys were just dinosaurs out of touch with the modern game.
Bruce has a very good run himself, but the fans said they only judge full seasons. Unfortunately they'll be after Howe somewhere down the line.
There's no better option than they because they'll be the one's after him. It's not just nufc fans it's football fans in general these days.
Eddie will have new pressures to deal with when further investment comes and expectation increases. As I said on another thread, he just needs to look at someone like Pep who chooses not to meddle in others work, sticks to his footballing principles and gets on with coaching. He can clearly do that, so stick to that and he'll be fine. Start doing a Rafa and criticising owners, or meddling in the likes of Ashworths role, and he'll probably A. Stop doing as good a job on the training ground and match days B. Upset the apple cart and get his head chopped off. Sorry I mean sacked...
He's done a very good job so far and is clearly in another level to the idiot we had before, but you can be certain that when a bad run comes that fans will start up. I fully expect to go fwds and backwards over the next few years, but the delusion is strong in some.
If so it will no doubt be fuelled by the media and the ****tier pundits, like Merson. They can't wait for the moment we have a bad run so they can jerk off to writing headlines about how much we spend etc. So far Eddie has shown all the right signs for me and the way that Staveley & co have explained how and why he fits as part of a long term vision makes sense. Even if we do stay up and spend big, that in itself presents new problems. Eddie will have to integrate them into the squad and keep everyone happy (especially those who don't start matches). So yes, it will take time, with some ups and downs. But for the first time in a long time I can see we have a manager who could genuinely bring good times, so long as he himself is given time and backing.
Rafa was **** Yea, he got us out of Championship, but overall he was ***** coupled with his stubbornness (especially about Mitrovic) and signings apart from Merino?
I hope Eddie is with us for the next 20 years, because that would probably mean he'd be successful & consistent.
