He had a heed like a busted baked tattie. He was a member of the jawdee nashun, therefore likes animal sex. His mucky daughter was bucking the entire squad. One, all or none of the above maybe true. But one thing is. 7 years ago today Steve 'cheesebake' Bruce was appointed manager. Built a bloody good team during his time. Then lost the plot and dissmantled it. Part of a Jawdee conspiracy or just unlucky?
Had gone as far as he could with us. Was good then very bad. Sacked cos he was failing at the time and taking us down
He had built potentially the best team we've had in years, then ****ed it up. His persistence to play people out of position always baffled me. 'Square pegs in round holes' and all that.
He started off well but when things started to go bad was unwilling or couldn't adapt, no plan b when plan a stopped working. He was dragging us towards the championship and was rightly sacked. Nowt to do with him being a newcastle fan as a kid or his grotesque head, He's just a manager just short of the level that we expect.
Made some good signings, then some players left which was possibly out of his hands, and he replaced them with some poor signings. Since he left we have only getting worse for which i suppose he is partly to blame. Cant say I hate the man and look back on his reign with a lot more fond memories than many before him and since.
Not that I like him, I mean as a player I can't question his class and he'll always be a United legend, but he took a bullet to the head at Sunderland because of Niall Quinn's mismanagement of your club. The Oh so Irish drunken one, who cannot be slandered around these parts (apart from Bri who actually acknowledged it) because he saved your club, it rose like a (badly injured) Phoenix from the ashes, all hail Magic Niall Quim. It was his job to run your club and he allowed your best players to **** off and players like Gyan to pull the rug from under you. There's not letting players leave and then there's good chairmen, sadly I have to point you towards Liverpool's when Suarez wanted to **** off, or Everton's when Stones wanted away last season, WBA refusing to sell Berahino, the list is probably quite long. Bruce isn't a good manager in my books, he's average, so he needed all the help he could get, instead he got bummed by The Holy One.
Steve Bruce could put a good side together, but he's incapable of building a team. He literally changed our squad at every transfer window and relied on loan signings, far to much. He couldn't even bring a left back into the club during his time and relied on playing players out of position. I remember one interview, when he was asked if he had thought of experimenting with the team formation and his reply was "I'm not really into tactics" His substitutions were awful, and he could never, ever, counter-act an opposition manager, if they changed their formation/tactics around, during the game.
I love Nial Quinn for what he did for the club but as a chairman he was pretty poor other than as a figure head and spokesperson in the media, I think most fans you talk to about it kind of accept that he wasn't very good in the role of chairman. But that just deflects away from the fact that Bruce's management of the club after an initial hint of success was poor, the money he did have to spend was wasted and his management of the team in general wasn't very good. Not the worst manager we've had and to be honest the only reason why I have any dislike for him is the way he went on after leaving, saying he was forced out because of where he was from when the truth is he wasn't doing a very good job.
Yeah, like I say, he is an average manager, he's not good enough at PL level, yet seems to do well at Champ level, somewhere in between perhaps. He's a bit of a scapegoat though for SAFC's eventual downfall from when they had a great set-up, you had to step your game up there, show huge ambition and invest to kick on, but you asset stripped and had to make wholesale changes, that never works, well it rarely works... it was bad management from all parties.
Couldn't handle the big names. Couldn't change tactics soon enough. Everyone back for corners. Those were his failings, overall liked the bloke, and he was very nearly there had he kept his wits. Team was great to watch, but he used to put us under so much pressure when 1-0 up dragging everyone back, he shot himself.
Exactly this. Given sufficient funds Bruce might buy enough good players who, effectively left to their own devices, become a successful side. On the other hand he might put together a squad that looks OK on paper and just doesn't perform. His man management is suspect at best, so he seems unlikely to keep even a successful side together, and if things are going wrong he doesn't have a clue about how to change things tactically.
You are blaming Niall Quinn, way to much for Steve Bruce's failings. We got fantastic deals for Bent and Gyan leaving. I never even rated Gyan, one of the most overrated players we have had at the club. He just didn't really impact in many games. Steve Bruce didn't fail because of Niall Quinn's mismanagement of the club. He failed because he wasn't up to the job and couldn't take the club any further. He didn't know how to progress a side. He couldn't deliver tactically. I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic when you said we all hail Magic Quinn, because he saved our club... Of course we are going to though. If somebody came in and saved your club, would you not hold them in the highest regard and be forever grateful to them?
Quinn wasn't a great chairman, he acknowledged that himself, he threw money at players and managers, he didn't balance he books. What he did, was save the club not once but twice, we were point of ruin under Murray he personally found Drumaville. The property market crashed and they needed out, he found Ellis. Coupled with his wonderful time as a player, bond with the fans and throwing in excess of £2million from his testimonial year into a children's ward at the Royal Infirmary, and aye, Quinn does and always will retain a pretty hefty, and utterly deserved status as a legend to us all.
If it wasn't for Niall Quinn, then at best we would be like Forest or Blackburn in the Championship. At worst, probably like Sheff Utd struggling to get out of League 1.
Very true mate, under Murray the coffers were empty it could have been even deeper than that. I think sometimes fans outside the club aren't aware of just what Quinny did, that's no disrespect Tel, always close to spot in on the club even though you don't support us, the work Quinn did in the background, I doubt there's another none home grown footballer on earth who'd do that anywhere.
I might be wrong, but this just looked like an opportunity to have another a dig at Sir Niall to me . . . . and it was taken
In hindsight... what a fantastic chairman he was. He wasn't the richest man around, but he delivered us Peter Reid and our best supporting years, as supporters. He delivered us our best ever finishes in the Premier league and he left us the Stadium Of Light and AOL. He also transferred us into the hands of SNQ on very reasonable terms. He sometimes got a raw deal back in the day, but looking back, he done a smashing job.
Bruce had a scattergun approach to signings but did bring in some of the best players you've had in the past decade and got you your highest league position in the past 20/30 years? Maybe longer not sure. Bent, Gyan, Zenden, Steed, Cattermole, Larsson, etc were i think all his signings? Plus he got good loans I mean there's a stark difference between Bent, Gyan and Welbeck as opposed to Fletcher, Whickham and Graham. Since he left you've maintained a similar level, I don't think you've gone backwards as that was done under him - you looked like you were going down and the opportunity to replace with O'Neill had to be taken at the time. If I was Bruce I would accept the sacking was merited but begrudge the abuse some Sunderland fans seem to give him - unfair if you ask me.
