Few points before the article…
1) I`m not anti Steve Bruce. I wanted him here and I`ve supported him, by and large, throughout (that doesn`t mean you can`t criticise at times btw)
2) I love wins. We won yesterday. I`m delighted.
3) I wish Steve had been as delighted instead of having yet another hissy fit, like he had a few months back.
It was a great and oh so needed win v Boro then Steve Bruce gets all defensive about the mass hysteria at the club.
You know, sometimes you can just be positive even if you are feeling you have a massive chip on your shoulder?
All he had to say was ‘That was a crucial win and we are so pleased, having not win in a while, to have delivered the win to our fantastic fans and hopefully we can now push on again and get back into the top six.` Not difficult is it?
It`s important to point out he has praised fans numerous times so I`m not going to be ultra sensitive about things, but this ‘lets not lurch around into all of a sudden feeding frenzy of crisis` is just wrong.
Steve, it`s a big club. If it is too big for you, be honest, just say. ONE win in SIX games. That, at a big club, IS a crisis. We`ve not been commanding in most games during his time here anyway, so I think some supporters like me (a supporter of Bruce as well btw) are a bit disappointed that we`ve not pushed on from winning ugly, to maybe starting to get more confident and playing slightly more attacking football.
Yes, injuries. Sorry though, most clubs have to put up with that, we aren`t alone. We still have enough fit players to be playing less ‘handbrake football` and to not be outplayed by Brentford or bore drawing (with some luck our way not to lose, plus great keeping) v the likes of Millwall.
He said on www.bbc.co.uk ‘The response from the other night was vitally important. We lurch along, we played badly against Brentford second half and all of a sudden we’re in crisis. We have to eradicate that as a club. We can’t be just going along quite nicely and then we’re in crisis. We’ve seen today this is a division which throws up results which leave people scratching their heads at. Let us get on with the job in hand.’
Does he really think one bad half v Brentford is why fans, the owner and CEO have been unhappy? Really Steve?
This is just insulting. Insulting to us, the fans. Insulting to the few press who picked up on it (most get on with him and for some reason seem scared to express any critique at all) and certainly insulting to the owner and CEO.
And yes, if he is saying we need to eradicate this, he is having a go at Tony Xia for talking about the disaster of December and Keith Wyness for saying they are asking all the hard questions and all leave has been cancelled.
And ‘going along quite nicely?’. How does he work that out? We crashed out of the top six. That’s not my idea of going along nicely.
Everyone doing all we can to get things back on track, all leave cancelled and every hard question being asked, together we must turn it round, everyone knows the reality
keith wyness (@retsub12) December 28, 2017
A hectic work& business travel schedule month.Just recovering from one week serious flu. No enough free time and most time inaccessible to Twitter. Hopefully it will also end the ‘disaster month` with a win! Time to recovery! #AVFC
Dr. Tony Xia (@Dr_TonyXia) December 27, 2017
Again, one win in six Steve. ONE WIN… one. Dropping out of the top six, a club with this good a squad (partly assembled by the manager) IS deemed a crisis. If we don`t get up this season, the final parachute payment is ‘tiny` at around £14million and this club will have to radically change how it goes about things. That could well mean normal staff finding they are given their P45`s and some of the bigger paid players having to depart.
Match stats: win v Boro
Forum thread: Click Here
Bruce thread: Click Here
‘We lurch along, we played badly against Brentford second half and all of a sudden we’re in crisis…..We can’t be just going along quite nicely and then we’re in crisis.’ 1 win in 6. Before today 2 points out of 15 and he’s having a swipe? Don’t get it at all. Still great win!!
Vital Villa (@VitalVilla) December 30, 2017
And to be admitting he only played Elphick because Whelan was ill, well for me that was plain daft.
JF, in 40 years of watching us, I`ve rarely heard a worse post match interview by an #avfc manager. The guy is so precious! We had taken 3 pts from 5 games, playing rubbish, yet apparently he can`t be criticised and it`s all #masshysteria What a shame we couldn`t just enjoy a win
Howard Hodgson (@HodgsonHoward) December 30, 2017
Elphick deserves praise from Fans for simply rolling up his sleeves and playing with the right attitude. He`s not far off 2 MOTM awards…..if he`s dropped for Bristol game I will give up all hope on the Managers motives. Well done Elph👍
Cliff AVFC (@CliffRoberts1) December 30, 2017
