Managers play a role in engendering team spirit, which is where "bottle" comes from. Managers sign the players that do not sufficient characters to engender team spirit. The current malaise is everyone's fault - the players and the manager (and the coaching staff). The owners have a slice of blame too. The clubs isn't pulling together right now, which is reflected by attitudes in the stands.
Good post and I would add that it is also showing 'on the field' with out players yelling, swearing at and criticizing each other. Seems to be way down on team spirit.
Origin of bottle- I would have said the French bouteille but google has it so: late Middle English: from Old French boteille, from medieval Latin butticula, diminutive of late Latin buttis ‘cask, wineskin’ (see butt4). Our lads certainly need their butticulas kicking at the moment
I've just listened to the post match interview with Bruce.. What a ****ing idiot he's turned out to be. "hindsight is a wonderful thing, Diame's played 4 games in quick succession, maybe shouldnt have played" "it was maybe a little too easy to put out the same team that won so convincingly at the weekend" Are you kidding me Steve? Honestly... Every time we've put in a crap performance this season you've said the exact same things, that it was maybe wrong to play the tired players and that he should have been braver and made changes...... WHEN THE **** ARE YOU GOING TO LEARN?!?! And then stating that before the sending off we're still in it... no we ****ing were not, we were 2 nill down and not looking like scoring, so who are you trying to fool? This isnt some rant just because we got tonked by Derby, we've been crap for a while now, possibly since just before the FA Cup Final when performances in the prem started to drop, its been a slow decline ever since then really.. Honestly, for me at least, im bored of him, I'd like to see him leave in the summer regardless of which league we're in. He's a great manager on his day but his day isnt often enough for me. Underachieving with one of, if not THE best squad of players in the league. Certain stats like never (maybe once?) coming back from being a goal down speaks volumes. He's too concerned about being good defensively that he neglects attacking play, we're ****e from set pieces and always, ALWAYS bottle the important games. He was too good for us when he first came almost 4 years ago, I actually couldnt believe we got him, but he's proved last season and this season that he's not good enough. My worry is that when he goes in the summer, and he will.. is who will replace him. The Allams went all out to get Bruce when they took over, they wanted to make a big, bold statement by getting him. But what happens this summer? The Allams dont have the same passion as they did before, will they once again look to spend big and bring in the best manager they can attract? Will they bollocks.. It's hard not to be pessimistic here but if we dont go up through the play offs i really fear the worst. The club is meant to be for sale and we've got all the negativity around the owners, we'll have quite a few players leaving on a free, the decent players at the club will get offers from the premier league (they'll have a stupid transfer budget with the new Sky money) **** off Steve Bruce
I understand the temptation to play an unchanged team , but what happened to horses for courses? ... What happened to Diame being exhausted on Friday? Why have 1 out and out striker in the whole squad ... Turns out sleeping on it doesn't always make things seem better ..
Great rant mate, even an armchair pundit like me thought Robertson should have been rested last night and lo and behold we have been destroyed down his side so for Bruce to come out and say this after... wheels have fallen off the Brucey bus
You've literally just summarised my thoughts. Spectacular post. Glad I'm not the only one screaming at him when he pulls out the "maybe I should have rested players" line. He used to do it when injured players came back to soon, at least he seems to have learned that lesson.
Could be from the opposite to dutch courage, which is found in a bottle. Lost his bottle lost his dutch courage.
I can't help thinking about what Steve Harper said on Humberside a few months ago, about how training was always about defending and rarely ever attacking. That seems to ring true now. I hope our next manager has a more forward thinking appoach. I'll get shot down of course, but I wouldn't mind seeing Ian Holloway here.
What makes you think they'll keep their squads together? Any decent players will be PL bound with the money! I see Newcastle struggling next season if they go down. SB might get the call to go there.
I don't see SB getting any of these jobs. Who the **** would want him? He's been a failure everywhere he's been.
