Just seen the news about Bruce, stunned is my first impression. Just for once I’m not sure this is a good thing, he loves the club, his passion was clear when he spoke to us in Portugal.
Off the field operations
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Those seems on the face of it a bit of a weird move? But the fact that Bruce is assisting with the transition and the statements from him and the club it most certainly is mutual.
Our planning and progression have been very good of late and I guess we can only hope that this is just another step forward for the club. It was not too long ago that DB was talking about the financial windfall that staying in the prem would Bring and the commercial opportunities that would arise from that, we can only assume that a lot of these are already in motion and that our preseason trip to America is no coincidence. Good chance this may be the Legacy that he leaves us with.
I wish him well for his and his families future and hope that his part of our rich history brings him great pride.
Our planning and progression have been very good of late and I guess we can only hope that this is just another step forward for the club. It was not too long ago that DB was talking about the financial windfall that staying in the prem would Bring and the commercial opportunities that would arise from that, we can only assume that a lot of these are already in motion and that our preseason trip to America is no coincidence. Good chance this may be the Legacy that he leaves us with.
I wish him well for his and his families future and hope that his part of our rich history brings him great pride.
It does seem a strange move. He has done a brilliant job. I guess there is a plan in place but unless DB wanted to move on I can’t help thinking if it’s not broke don’t fix it
Hes done a brilliant job, reconnecting the club, fans and city. He was and always will be one of us and should be proud of the part he has played.
Interesting to see who the next one in will be and if he "gets" the fans, city and region like Bruce.
Interesting to see who the next one in will be and if he "gets" the fans, city and region like Bruce.
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He's done an outstanding job to help get us to where we are. I spoke to him down the beach the Monday after the playoff final and he was just over the moon me and the boy had a brilliant day out. Loved the story of me replaying the match on my phone with a train full of Sheffield United lol payback for the crap we got off them as we pulled into Kings X the day before.
We can all read into things but he might feel it's job done. His statement mentions working long hours and he might want a new role where he's not on call 24/7.
Giving Waters more power might be the way to continue Bruce's focus on the fan experience.
Hopefully his replacement can start to see BIG money coming to the club in regards to sponsorship.
We can all read into things but he might feel it's job done. His statement mentions working long hours and he might want a new role where he's not on call 24/7.
Giving Waters more power might be the way to continue Bruce's focus on the fan experience.
Hopefully his replacement can start to see BIG money coming to the club in regards to sponsorship.
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Yeah, Bruce is up there with the ‘Til the Enders in terms of how much he’s impacted the club in these special last couple of years.
I hope part of the transition to a new person is to do an intensive period of training in what it means to be fan of our great club and the wider area.
Very strange. I'm starting to worry a little bit about too many changes in senior management. KS leaving suddenly and now Bruce.
Yes that was a great story, what a weekend.
I’ve been thinking for a while that KLD has kept reigned things in so far but there’s some big changes on the horizon …
… stadium changes including expansion, hospitality, away fans, renaming of the SOL, the monorail, etc.
What’s happened before has been impressive but ‘cosmetic’ such as big screens, sound system, internet, etc. The next stages would have to be substantial, costly and involve substantial investment, possibly with new people coming in. If that’s the case they’ll want some of their own people in senior management positions.
All guesswork but it feels like we’ve reached a point whereby it either stalls, seriously advances or KLD sells up entirely.
If the last 5 years is anything to go by,I doubt if stalling is on the menu. My money would be on one of your other two options.
I heard a long time ago about serious investment into the club, this was just after KLD had taken charge. The caveat to that was that the investment would only materialise if the club showed sustained signs of progression.
We have seen that and more, so maybe the changes at the club are in line with this significant investment or maybe it is just operational maneuvering and boardroom shuffling.
Like I said above this statement I got was quite a few years ago so a lot will have changed in that time and TBH have not heard a lot since regarding the club financially but all reports seem to point to us doing better than most and growing our turnover steadily and responsibly.
We have seen that and more, so maybe the changes at the club are in line with this significant investment or maybe it is just operational maneuvering and boardroom shuffling.
Like I said above this statement I got was quite a few years ago so a lot will have changed in that time and TBH have not heard a lot since regarding the club financially but all reports seem to point to us doing better than most and growing our turnover steadily and responsibly.
I used to be given information a few years back.
It gradually became less and now there’s virtually nothing except hints about the stadium expansion and sponsorship.
To be honest mate your first paragraph makes no sense to me :You heard about serious investment but that was contingent on sustained signs of progression!A tad too much of the chicken and the egg scenario.Why not supply a small amount investment that increases the likelihood of egg production?and more importantly reap the benefits of your earlier investment.
One thing is for sure either Bruce has been head hunted or something is going an behind the scenes at the club and in truth we don't know whether it is a positive or negative development but im hoping for the former.
We cannot deny that the next three years (next season especially)are going to be the most important in our clubs recent history and im hoping for us to finally get back to consistently being in the top eight in English football!:where we belong!!
Yes next season is so critical - we just need two outside forwards and a goalscorer to make the system work incredibly. Everything else is already there. Almost like the the Durban era ( ha ha! )
Really makes you wonder why Bruce is going. So many good things are happening that you can't imagine they were upset or wanted someone better. Maybe they are looking to restructure. Hopefully he has just been head hunted but that must be some job he is getting as I think he already came from a big job in MLS.
One thing is fore sure the truth will come out eventually.,But on the surface it does look odd timing.I for one hope its not some sort of keep it in the family and friends thing?or a signs of a takeover?
I trust the Dreyfus family on this, no doubt he will be a massive miss because he just gets us but on the big decisions they havent got a lot wrong.
We are moving in the right direction right throughout the club apart from the ticket office which we just cant get right, I really hope some investment is made to sort that out.
Bruce will walk out with his head held high and another huge success on his CV, people must realise though that KLD does not make all these decisions himself, when a club is ran like a dictatorship it ends up like Forest...that fella would sack the tea-lady if it wasnt hot enough
We are moving in the right direction right throughout the club apart from the ticket office which we just cant get right, I really hope some investment is made to sort that out.
Bruce will walk out with his head held high and another huge success on his CV, people must realise though that KLD does not make all these decisions himself, when a club is ran like a dictatorship it ends up like Forest...that fella would sack the tea-lady if it wasnt hot enough
We are absolutely ripe for a takeover. If that was ever the intention now is one of the good spots to do it, hopefully with a well chosen buyer.
Ideal situation is the 'massive investment' approach, where Kyril takes on a 'sponsoring partner' for the expansion, with full naming rights etc to cover the build cost, and they maybe want their own people. Still don't see why you couldn't keep Bruce though.
The problem with these type of changes (ie the top two local management have now left within the same season) is that we will fill the void with rumours and they can get out of hand. I hope they communicate what's going on asap. We just don't need lots of noise now.. we have had more than our fair share of it these last 10 years.
Also I just watch the Tom Burwell video and it was just boring corporate speak .A difficult watch and he doesn't seem to have the common touch that Bruce had .. not impressed.
Also I just watch the Tom Burwell video and it was just boring corporate speak .A difficult watch and he doesn't seem to have the common touch that Bruce had .. not impressed.
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Right, possible that Kyril doesn't quite understand how invested we are in how things are run. It would be good to quieten the potential noise and information vacuum. But its quite possible that he doesn't understand that there even is one. He apparently didn't understand how despised SD was at first until informed by one of the meetings. Also read on here that the new guy is a mag. I don't like that if true. I know a lot of people think that we shouldn't be bothered by this, but I know I am. I just don't like it.
This Bruce one to me is similar to Speakman leaving. I think KLD is on a mission to make us a global brand and thus will bring someone into this role that he believes will do that...yes, disappointing when a Sunderland fan is replaced but I don't think it's not for one moment that KLD has lost the connection with the fan base.
These changes will continue as we grow and KLD has an elite team around him....Champions League will be in his next five year plan....I know Quinny had a magic carpet ride but I think this one will be off the charts....in my humble opinion.
These changes will continue as we grow and KLD has an elite team around him....Champions League will be in his next five year plan....I know Quinny had a magic carpet ride but I think this one will be off the charts....in my humble opinion.
It takes a lot of money and sustained premium quality investment and massive revenue generation to get anywhere near the top 5 on a consistent basis and whilst i think it might be a distant target im not sure champions league is our present goal either.
At present we are shopping and competing with the likes of Brighton,Brentford and Bournemouth and considering our recent past i see much joy in that . It is however sobering to realise that the only thing great about our club is its fans (no match anywhere in this world)and if we want to establish ourselves amongst the greats again its going to take an awful lot of money and luck and im not sure KLD is the person to do it.
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