The Steve Bruce appreciation thread
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Indeed. Largely irrelevant though as noted above. He never signed them and had no say in them leaving. So the credit for that incoming money goes to Pardew and McClaren.
The point was to suggest Rafa never had money to spend, is complete and utter bollocks. He was the most funded championship manager ever at the time bar Di Matteo who managed to spend £58.75 million the same season and was sacked by October. Its open to debate whether he spent that money well. Knowing the owner and club as he undoubtedly did, I think he overspent getting out the championship and didn't think far enough ahead. He knew Ashley was never going to allow a mass overhaul once promoted.
Personally think we are still watching too much guff now because of that period. Gayle, Hayden, Sels, Hanley, Yedlin, Diame, Murphy, Lazaar, Ritchie, Clark. We got value out of Ritchie, Hayden, Clark but not sure about the rest. We are still watching the likes of Shelvey, Hayden, Ritchie, Clark, Lascelles, J Murphy because he brought them in or gave them senior roles (Lascelles and Shelvey as ****ing captains man
)Then you have to consider the quality he lost through lack of opportunity in Merino, Armstrong, Toney, Mbabu, Mbemba, Gibson. Those younger lads would have been better held onto than some he signed.
Bottom line is a relegation makes comparisons about net spend a moot point. Rafa spent a good amount of money. I think he left us with a lot of deadwood personally.
Nah I never thought we were likely to get a point out of games against the top 6. I thought we'd park the bus and keep the score down. He did get a few results but then so do most managers including Bruce. I think its fairly rose tinted to think we went into games thinking we could nick something. The Man C games were like the ****ing alamo!
Rafa was a far better manager though despite the results matching up fairly equally.
Still wouldn't want him anywhere near a football club I supported but that is simply on style because I like to enjoy watching football.
Impossible task. Money is king in PL football and we ain't spent much for 13-14 years. So not only underfunded annually, its cumulative too.
Nope I'm just a realist. Being hard to beat is fair. He did set up not to lose at all times. But against the top teams they usually get you in the end. Expecting points out of the top 6 is not really how it was. I remember the threads on here, expecting the worst (including yourself). Except the anger was directed at Ashley. Now its directed at Bruce.
Spot on.
Nufc is where it should be when you look at spending a top half is unrealistic.
12th which Bruce achieved is a very good finish
1.Newcastle started well last season, but the fans complained the football was boring and it was just luck
2.Newcastle struggled for a period and nufc fans starting saying they were right and continued to press fwd
3.Newcastle went on to be the 10th best side in the league for the second half of the season finishing 12th and scoring more goals than any other side outside the top 6 and nufc fans tried to pretend that never happened.
I recall the fans saying all they want is top 10 and a cup run... They got a cup run and 12th... Not bad, but they act like it was 17th because it exposes their false claims about expectation.
Bruce's a hopeless case, but there's no excuse for the crap fans are levelling at him.
Jones appointed behind his back.. Ffs.
The mole stuff is another one... Ritchie was being a tit so Bruce has the balls to confront him and Ritchie apologised... Thats the sign of a man imo...
The journalist hope had been stirring ****
Indeed. Largely irrelevant though as noted above. He never signed them and had no say in them leaving. So the credit for that incoming money goes to Pardew and McClaren.
The point was to suggest Rafa never had money to spend, is complete and utter bollocks. He was the most funded championship manager ever at the time bar Di Matteo who managed to spend £58.75 million the same season and was sacked by October. Its open to debate whether he spent that money well. Knowing the owner and club as he undoubtedly did, I think he overspent getting out the championship and didn't think far enough ahead. He knew Ashley was never going to allow a mass overhaul once promoted.
Personally think we are still watching too much guff now because of that period. Gayle, Hayden, Sels, Hanley, Yedlin, Diame, Murphy, Lazaar, Ritchie, Clark. We got value out of Ritchie, Hayden, Clark but not sure about the rest. We are still watching the likes of Shelvey, Hayden, Ritchie, Clark, Lascelles, J Murphy because he brought them in or gave them senior roles (Lascelles and Shelvey as ****ing captains man
Then you have to consider the quality he lost through lack of opportunity in Merino, Armstrong, Toney, Mbabu, Mbemba, Gibson. Those younger lads would have been better held onto than some he signed.
Bottom line is a relegation makes comparisons about net spend a moot point. Rafa spent a good amount of money. I think he left us with a lot of deadwood personally.
I agree with a lot of that essay, especially the 2nd last paragraph. But he was backed in the Championship to get us out of it. He might have went a bit OTT with squad depth but it got us up which was the aim
It also built us the best organised side we've had in my life. Some fans including warm Pouch couldn't appreciate that and wanted to lose miserably having a go like Norwich
Indeed. Largely irrelevant though as noted above. He never signed them and had no say in them leaving. So the credit for that incoming money goes to Pardew and McClaren.
The point was to suggest Rafa never had money to spend, is complete and utter bollocks. He was the most funded championship manager ever at the time bar Di Matteo who managed to spend £58.75 million the same season and was sacked by October. Its open to debate whether he spent that money well. Knowing the owner and club as he undoubtedly did, I think he overspent getting out the championship and didn't think far enough ahead. He knew Ashley was never going to allow a mass overhaul once promoted.
Personally think we are still watching too much guff now because of that period. Gayle, Hayden, Sels, Hanley, Yedlin, Diame, Murphy, Lazaar, Ritchie, Clark. We got value out of Ritchie, Hayden, Clark but not sure about the rest. We are still watching the likes of Shelvey, Hayden, Ritchie, Clark, Lascelles, J Murphy because he brought them in or gave them senior roles (Lascelles and Shelvey as ****ing captains man
Then you have to consider the quality he lost through lack of opportunity in Merino, Armstrong, Toney, Mbabu, Mbemba, Gibson. Those younger lads would have been better held onto than some he signed.
Bottom line is a relegation makes comparisons about net spend a moot point. Rafa spent a good amount of money. I think he left us with a lot of deadwood personally.
Said it a lot last season and still hold it strong.
Rafa Benitez making Lascelles the captain was one of the worst decisions I have ever seen.
He didn't play him when he had Lejeune and schar available.. I think he realised lacelles was ****e.
Take it off him then.
Schar and Lejeune were his star signings, they were always going to play every single game. He should have just took the armband off fistbumps
Maybe he would've we don't know really cos Lejeune got buckled and lacelles was back in, but it was mental I agree with you
What I do know is that Rafa built a very solid, hard to beat side that rarely got beat heavy.. Never got one of those awful piss take days where its over after 20 mins.. Always in the game and I personally appreciated it.
Lots wanted to be like Norwich early on in Bruce's 1st season and now we are.
The Man City defeat under Rafa was over within 15 minutes.
It was like 18% possession and he took off the attackers.
We only lost by more than 3 I think 2 or 3 times under Rafa.
I always felt we were in the game.. The 3-2 vs Everton was nice.
We defended very well and had a sting in our tail... Possession is great but nufc were effective and that's more important
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