Holmesy

Last season he had a pre-season at Arsenal and was playing the way Arsenal have coached him for years. This season he’s had a pre-season with Bruce, is coached by muppets and is given 4 days off a week. This is very much Bruce’s version of Willock. At least we know there’s a player in there. Hopefully the new manager can discover it.

For 5 minutes it felt fucking glorious and gave a taste of what is hopefully to come. It’s been a long time since SJP looked and sounded like that!

Stop playing Clark, Lascelles and Ritchie you spanner! You’ve got 2 better CBs and 2 proper LBs on the bench you fucking plum! Defence is too frail! The fucking nerve!

Bruce Bingo - my guess is ‘scored too early’

No more talk of Bruce staying No more talk of only £50m being spent in January! Fuck this fat fraud off tonight, get a manager with pedigree in ASAP and give him as much as you possibly can to rebuild this fucking mess! You’ve seen all you need to see now! This gets no better until changes are made!

Joelinton has actually got worse! I thought he’d hit rock bottom but nope, he actually can get even shitter

You are utterly wank Steve Bruce! Hopefully this is a fitting end to your time here - surrendering with a whimper. Twat!

Such a shame the new owners have fucked up what should’ve been a huge celebration. This was so fucking predictable. One more game gone and we’re still in the relegation zone. Massive mistake!

Bruce will send them out fired up for it the second half lads, don’t worry!

And that’s exactly what you get when you don’t sack the guy who presides over this shitshow.

Why is our defensive positioning so consistently shit when our manager is a former CB. It’s fucking inexcusable!

I’m actually prepared to accept that he’s a decent guy. A lot of people genuinely seem to like him and he does seem quite affable. But what cannot be argued is that he is a shit football manager and horribly out of his depth in the PL. Pundits refuse to separate experience from ability and personality from managerial record and it is fucking infuriating because the facts are readily available and don’t lie. If Bruce was a renowned total wanker of a person but had some managerial talent, he’d get an easier ride.

Angry at increased competition?! The whole fucking sport is about competition you spoilt pricks! in an ideal world it would be a total level playing field with every team having a chance to qualify, but that’s not realistic. Why are the PL even entertaining this meeting?!

These guys are in it for the long term and maybe they consider the possibility of a few negative chants in the crowd to be a small issue because they’re thinking of the big picture. We obviously want the roof to come off the place and the whole day to be a celebration of the new era, but they won’t get caught up in the emotion of it. For them, Sunday is just day 8? of a long term transformation project. Bruce may we’ll be in charge because they want to do things methodically - it will be gutting if that does happen but he’ll be gone soon enough.

How many fucking times - experience doesn’t equal ability?!!!!

Normally I’d agree but their current manager is only marginally less clueless than Bruce so there’s a good chance those cast-offs are just being badly coached and under-utilised and will come good under a decent manager.

He gets paid millions to do a job he’s absolutely shit at. On every level, he is consistently terrible at being a football manager and yet he’s about to land £8m. A life changing fortune for being unquestionably wank at your profession!! And all he can bring himself to do is play the victim. ”Ah, me Mam and Dad…” Do you want a clue why people don’t like you Steve?

Exactly, but you minimise your risk and maximise your chances of success by hiring someone that has already done it elsewhere, rather than HOPING your next hire does it with you.

It depends what you consider proven - it’s pretty subjective really. He’s proven he can repeatedly win the Champions League and domestic honours in Spain with a team of world stars. An incredible achievement, no doubt. He hasn’t proven he can manage mediocre teams into good or even great ones in other leagues. Could he do it? Probably. But I’d rather we hire a manager who has a proven record at the latter now.

Would Pep be right for us now? No, I don’t think he would. Zidane has proven that he can take a team full of world class stars and take them from perennial winners of some stuff to perennial winners of other stuff. And yes, the Champions league wins are a huge achievement. Pep has proven that he can play great football with expensive teams of world class superstars and go on to win trophies. The one thing Pep has done, however, is follow up on his initial success with other successes, at different teams and in different leagues. I’d want to see Zidane follow up his success of managing world class stars to European glory at at least another club. I’m not suggesting he’s unproven but certain circumstances suit certain managers and then they can’t repeat their initial success elsewhere. Rafa is a perfect example of what I’m talking about - he’s done it in La liga, the championship, the premier league, the champions league, Italy etc. Also see Bielsa, Tuchel, Conte etc. That’s the kind of manager I think we need. Not someone who has done it in one place but a manager who has proven their ability in multiple places.

With a team full of world class superstars that had largely been assembled before he got there. In terms of domestic honours, Real Madrid and Barca pretty much win everything every year anyway. Roberto Di Matteo won the Champions League. Does that make him class? I’ve no doubt Zidane has more managerial ability in his little fingernail than Bruce has, but that doesn’t mean he’s the right manager for our current situation.

The only managerial experience he has had is taking over a perennially success Champions League giant and having some success with them. He has proven nothing and I think he’s far from what we need right now

Bruce has won 5 games in 37. Only a fool would continue with him, when it’s abundantly clear he can’t get a tune out of these players, and these new owners don’t strike me as fools. He’ll be gone next week and deservedly so.

Watching the England game last night, Ward-Prowse should be near the top of our list. He’s a very classy player and exactly what we need in CM. Only 26 as well so you’d like to think he’s got his best years ahead of him.

Should never be allowed near professional football again, regardless of the division.