God what a difference having an actual manager in charge can do to a teams fortunes, I honestly believe that if Howe had been in charge from the start of the season with a full pre-season we'd be in a similar position to what West Ham are in currently and thats without the investment in January.
The contrast in the two is actually mental, Howe has done everything this charlatan didn't do:
Work Effort: Howe has been meticulous in coming into training at 6:30 each day, planning, preparing, coaching, given his absolute everything to get an uptick in form, being the de-facto director of football in January to ensure that we targeted the right type of signings. Bruce in contrast, turned up at 11am the day after the takeover went through, which was him "trying to prove he was the right man for the job", he went on holiday in September for 3 days despite us starting the season winless while getting kicked out the cup, continually gave the players 2/3 days off a week, with some players having to do there own at home fitness regime in order to maintain match sharpness. I beu Bruce never did any tactical analysis at all, compared to Howe creating dossiers for each player in order to improve them.
Tactics: Under Howe we are competitive, have a very distinct plan and patterns if play, and everyone leaves there all on the field, he isn't afraid to drop players if they arn't performing, or even if they are. Bruce on the other hand "Doesnt do tactics" which was very evident in our play, he slowly eroded that compact Rafa side into and absolute shambles of a defensive unit, which is ironic given we tried to play defensive counter attacking football. In Bruce's first game in charge Ritchie was seen saying no-one had a clue what was going on, and a year and a half into his tenure he came out with "Its time to do it my way" which is just laughable.
Results: Howe has won 3 games back to back three times in his tenure at the club, Bruce has never done that in his Premier League career. End.
Player Improvement: There have been so many success stories under Howe, Joelinton turning into a midfield bruiser, Krafth going from utter pap to a solid Premier League full-back, Schar becoming one of our best players despite apparently not being able to play in a back two, Fraser, Longstaff, Shelvey have all been improved. On the other hand I can't think of a single player who progressed under Bruce, players actively got worse by the game, Clark for instance was a dependable back-up/ forth choice pre Bruce, but was an utter joke by the end of his tenure, Ritchie, Murphy, Lascelles, Longstaff, where all unfit, untrianed and where half the players as they where under Rafa, but Miggy takes the cake, he was a fast, happy player that looked like he had all the talent to be a very solid Premier League attacker, but Bruce ground him down, churned him up, he couldn't score couldn't assist, Bruce used him exlusively as a work horse, and that smile he played with turned into massive weight on his shoulders as the life slowly got drained from him, and with it his Premier League career went down the drain.
Soft Skills: This is the main reason I utterly detest the bloke, I can get around poor performances, and all of the above (like McClaren for instance, I don't hate the bloke he was just poor at his job) but what I can't abide is the way he talked down to the fans, the press or anyone else who dared to say he was doing a poor job. He was rude, abrasive, condescending, spoke in cliches ("this is the Premier League") and made any sort of excuse to get away from his own short comings, from a "mole" in the dressing room, to the fans causing upset in the stands for booing the utter shite he served up (despite half his tenure being behind closed doors). He continually talked down the club, its history, what it means to the city, like it was a burden to be chucked away, rather then be embraced, talked down any sort of ambition to anything more then mediocrity, stuck up for his mate Ashley, and showed a general detest to anything NUFC, and then when a result did by luck go our way, he came out with "I hope I proved a few people wrong". He also continually used the "I'm a geordie" card, like that actually means fuck all.
He was an utterly detestable, and horrendous in every possible way, Howe is the complete antithesis of him, not bad for "that bloke that got Bournemouth relegated".
