More than anything else Steve Bruce has been accused of as manager, for me this is the event that highlights why he will never be a top manager. He lacks emotional intelligence, a vital attribute for a top manager I would have thought.
I think most people on that thread including myself changed their minds when the facts became known, when the first thing you hear is 'footballer caught taking coke' then you react accordingly Me too, hindsight is always 20-20 though like you say. Most footy fans reaction would be the same without knowing the full facts given that most footballers caught doing this have no mitigating circumstance, thankfully Livermore did
Emotional intelligence? You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. SB is the exact opposite. He has his faults, but as an understanding, easy going type, he's very good. He's old school, but that's not such a bad thing now is it?
Surely someone asked him how his kid was doing, what, he lied about it? I find some elements still to be really strange. This article also highlights what I said at the time which is that he was extraordinarily lucky, as cocaine is considered a PED.
Because he reacted to the news in the same way any one of us might have? I thought Jake was a ****ing waster on hearing the news he'd done cokaine. Why would SB feel any different? He would have known as much about the truth as any of us.
EDIT: I really shouldn't post at night if I've been drinking. Especially if it makes me both melancholic AND cynical.... now what other forums did I go on last night?
On seeing Jake Livermore performing poorly in the game against Melchester, Bruce came to the conclusion the ex Spuds star had been spending way too much time at the chairman's filthy den of infidelity and thus wasn't happy and thought it a good idea to call Jake a **** and sign Mick Hucknall out of Simply red.
I can't be arsed to read all that old thread, but having checked the first six pages, I suspect I wasn't taking things all that seriously. Decent article.
Which is precisely my point.... He should have sat down with a poorly performing player to figure out the reason. I find it weird none of them knew his child had died.
Sorry to hear of your own tragedy ST, that must indeed be one of the toughest. With the Jake and SB thing though, I would expect the demands to maintain maximum fitness from players would extend to emotional and mental well-being. If not across the board at all levels of the game at least among those at or near the elite end of the game. Not to sympathetically monitor and respond to such stresses seems not only unprofessional but inevitably on occasions detrimental to the clubs performance. Also I would have expected the levels of such a high pressure team bonding environment to have made his suffering unmissable. Not criticising either of them btw, just surprised that his vulnerability at such a time was not apparently considered. It's not as though SB hasn't been around long enough to have seen first hand the excesses and dangers that riches and stardom at an early age can bring. edit...(not saying Jake's slip was down to riches and stardom.)
Nobody on here, if they are honest, expected him to escape a lengthy ban. It was a big surprise when he didn't. He is a figure in the public eye, people want explanations of why he was illegaly using cocaine. Instead we never heard anything from him or the club except some rumours that the club could sue him. Eventually it seems he did talk to the club about it (before the hearing) but everyone else was left in the dark until the result of the hearing. I don't know how he got the cocaine, another issue surely, but I hope he and others are kept away from whatever circle of people that includes. I trust the police have looked into that, cut off the drug supply and you make the problem less prevalent. The club should monitor its players better anyway.
I still think he should have been banned, he broke the laws of the game no matter his reasons. Obviously I'm glad he's not, but we wouldn't be saying he should be let off if he played for a close rival. I think two years would have been a little extreme but no one could have argued with 6 months which is about as long as he was out for anyway. It's sad to hear it sounding like the whole situation sort of slipped through the net at the club. If Steve Bruce is as ignorant and stupid as he makes himself sound in that article he should just **** off. He's failed the squad on a professional and personal level.
Weren't you the one saying I was clueless for thinking cocaine was performance enhancing under wada? Or was that olm.
