Looking at the league table, if you take out the bottom 3 teams, only QPR, Blackburn, Bris City and Forest have scored fewer away goals than our paltry 20 goals. Brighton who have scored fewest home goals in the top six have managed 28 away goals. The above statistics tells us starkly that there must be something wrong with how we are set up away. Poor quality of tactics, perhaps poor reports from whoever gives advance reports on how opposition teams are at home, inability to put things right when things have started to go wrong. Excessive Man u style sideways passing and slow build ups are a feature of our game. I think Huddlestone and Dawson are often guilty when it comes to slow build up. In his career with City, Huddlestone's ratio of goal attempts against goals scored must surely be the worst. Re-winding and remembering Phil Brown's 'go for it' brand of football that got us up in 2008, with a less talented squad than we have now, I would unhesitatingly say that he would have done better than Bruce this year. If Bruce leaves, I think Brown could be an affordable replacement who can get the most out of what remains of the squad next season. In addition he will have a good idea of the best players in league 1 like Clucas who could step up. I also Brown could re-energise the support so long as Ehab doesn't proceed with anything like his previous member plans.
Maybe we should have got PB as the no.2 when Agnew left. Brown would never have attracted the players that Bruce has.
Are we talking about the same Phil Brown who was/is regularly regarded as a laughing stock on here by many of our armchair managers? Deeply ironic that he is now being talked about as a possible good choice to come in. You couldn't make it up.
Brown signed some players way short of the standard for the PL. Most of his best players were the ones he inherited. But he definitely had something!
Deano said PB was a very good man manager. Which translates as he liked a bevvy or ten with the players
I'm not been funny, I loved PB and thought it was ridiculous to sack him when we did and to this day fully believe he would have kept us up, however we can do better
Brownie's PL record is better than Bruce's in that he took us up, kept us up for 1 season & then Iain Dowie got us relegated. It was insane to sack Brownie with 9 games to go (if I remember correctly after drawing 1-1 at home with Arsenal) & to replace with Dowie (I bet most of the players had no idea who he was). We got 1 win in those last 9 games & that's what sent us down. I truly believe if Brownie had been manager we'd have survived. We certainly would not have lost 4-1 at home to already relegated Burnley!!!!!
Our record in the Premier League speaks for itself though : 17th - Relegated - 16th - Relegated. We were terribly unlucky in our last season with Leicester and Sunderland pulling off the greatest escapes in the history of the Premier League. We would need new, filthy rich owners who would take a greater interest in the Club than King Tut and a Manager much better than Bruce or Brown.
Where does this come from? It's another of those city cliches. We seem to have plenty of players falling out with, being naughty-stepped by or even leaving the club because of Steve Bruce, yet I'm always reading that people only play for us because of him. The reason we've got a brilliant squad is that we were PL and spending big money.
We could have had a joint managerial team of Fergie and Mourinho for the Burnley game and we'd still have lost that match had the **** Atkinson refereed it, I went to the Park & Ride with Burnley fans that match, even they couldn't believe what they'd seen .............. these things even themselves out don't you know? Like **** they do!
Never go back. Top of my list would be Rowett. Second on the list, even though they are likely to get relegated would be Robinson at Franchise FC. I think he has had them playing decent football, they just don't have the strength.
A manager who is in his first season at this level, more than likely ending in relegation? No thanks.
He's one of the best young managers in the country, if he leaves MK Dons he won't be short of offers.
