From the statement 'we agreed a fee for a world class striker' and from the fact the Gyan thing was clearly signed off without his prior knowledge, it looks pretty clear that Bruce does NOT have the backing of the powers that be. Never mind sacking Bruce, if he's being undermined in this way, he should walk. Bruce may have taken us as far as he can, but he is not a bad manager, and would be a great appointment for many a club. If we got O'Neil or Curbishley, however, i would be spitting mad. If Bruce goes, we simply must go for Moyes, with the Arteta & Beckford sales surely he's on the brink. Failing him, it has to be Hughes for me, we need an attack minded forward thinking manager before we can even think about getting the fans back to the SOL. Despite what many say, the squad Bruce has is streets ahead of the e he inherited, yes, his 2 biggest buys, Bent & Gyan have left, as has Kenwyne during his tenure, but the defence bar left back is strong, there are options in midfield, a new manager could bring in 2 average left sided players, and make the team very strong. On the striker situation, Ji took his goal with aplomb, and once again looked easily up to Premier League football. A 4-4-2 with he and Bendtner may solve a lot.
Steve, it depends on what's around you. Gyan can play one up front for Ghana - but you can't put three defenders on him there because Muntari will cut in from the wing, and there are others in that team who will take a pop, etc. Bent could do it at Villa with Downing and Young also threatening from out wide (and now N'Zogbia). But at Sunderland, there was none of that. Defences found it too easy. It was a thankless task for Bent and Gyan here.
Hello. Before I go I would like to say this; Someone at the club either lied to Bruce or at least let him shaft himself in the press Friday/ Saturday. Bruce has to go because he is -at best - a mediocre manager. Whoever allowed him to shoot himself to the press has to go to. If its Niall Spin, so be it. Goodnight ladies. x
Someone has absolutely hung Bruce out to dry on this one, which for me shows a massive weakness higher up the hierarchy. Who negotiates the deals? It's not Bruce, it's not Niall, it's the MD ain't it? That Irish woman?
Couple of things from me. (a) We've had a tough start. Remember we are just a mid-table team. Yesterday we played Chelski - a really good team. (Similarly, Bolton played a really good team). The next two games will give a true indicator as to how we are going to compete this season. We are 'reasonably' tight at the back, so a couple of 1-0 wins is not impossibe. That being the case then we would be . W2 D2 L2. - a mid table team. (b) Investment. I've said this several times on other occasions. Short is here to make money not for his philanthropic tendencies. He will sell and move on when the time is right (for him). However, to achieve this he can not allow the club to 'fail' . How he does this remains to be seen. I'm sure Bruce will have had his plans and targets. I would suggest that the people upstairs were not able to produce the goods. Perhaps a decent run in the lleague cup might have generated more cash flow - definitely a chicken and egg situation............. (c) What alarms me is the run of home defeats we are enduring - we have carried the habit over from last season. So, next two home games will tell the tale I feel.. .... just my two penneth ..
The clubs demise has been there for 50 odd years. In 1990,1996,1999,2005 we did not act and this is the result. Should Quinn be going around kicking backsides?, and i fear the days of the 1990's coming back with 'them' going for europe and us back in the championship, and the Boro replacing us !.Why should we settle for 10th place as that is not good enough with our support/stadium etc. There should be far more concerts at the stadium in the summer to bring in about an extra £30 m per season, the car park can be used for events etc. We need a financial director from Arsenal or even Stoke first then coaches scouting around the world, the academy should be bringing more Jordan henderson's through. We need to get transfers spot on in the future and players who WILL stay with us for their contract. Fulham,Stoke, Birmingham are 3 clubs that have played in europe but look at their support, my dad said yesterday i wish we had a team like Man u after seeing go 3-0 up at Bolton and i said we have not got a team like Stoke Everton or Fulham yet!. And that is the shocking reality of this. We need a manager who players will play for. We are weaker up front than 2 years ago and getting the Quinn Philips combination is going to cost big money, we were getting there 10 years ago but did not improve this club.
