Bruce to remain in charge

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It’s Luke Edwards so a pinch of salt necessary, but with that being said, how do we rate Bruce’s chances of seeing out the season? I honestly believe there’s a good chance he’ll still be in charge at Fulham on the final day.

TF Sweepstake time!

[Colback's Orange Tufts]

Oh for sure he will. We are a zombie club and they will use 'injury excuses'

[bodacious benny]

Guaranteed we’re stuck with him.

[Valentino's fast feet]

Was there any legitimate feeling his job was at risk? Fans want him out, for strong reasons, but other than that everyone and his dog thinks cabbage head is doing a fantastic job. He'll be in charge until at least the end of the season.

[bodacious benny]

Nope.

Imagine we’re relegated and he’s in charge next season...

[Sanchino]

Nope.

Imagine we’re relegated and he’s in charge next season...

That's a nightmare scenario.. Would anyone take relegation if it means Bruce gets sacked & we bring a fresh young & innovate manager like Gerrard/Lampard.. unlikely to happen but you never know? Or a dream duo reunion of Martinez/Jones?

Yes it'll be harder to get out of the Championship this time but with the right management & recruitment we could come back better & stronger.. sort of like a Leeds/Shefield United style(last season).. ending somewhere in mid-table/top-half & building from there.

If we survive & end 17th.. do people seriously think we'll sack Bruce? Highly unlikely.. he'll be in the dugout in August

[Valentino's fast feet]

Like we'd ever get Gerrard or Lampard I love the idea but no manager with any ambition will join a recently relegated team under the current regime. Gerrard won't leave Rangers until he has to, or until the Liverpool job comes up.

Relegation will be a disaster. Last time we had a genuine top class manager somehow. The time before we did well with Hughton, but that was a long time ago. I think the championship is a lot more competitive these days. If we go down Jones will probably be the replacement for Bruce, I don't see us getting in anyone with pedigree. It'll be a huge gamble there, like Bournemouth with Tindall. Hughton and us is the obvious example of where it came good.

End of the day, as obvious as it to say, we need to not get relegated. Bruce won't be sacked and we are sleepwalking towards the inevitable. That being said, there's obviously no guarantee that Jones as interim or anyone else would keep us up. I'm certainly not convinced that Bruce will.

I agree with the idea that Martinez isn't a top level manager, but I think the suggestion he would come here is barmy. Again agree that international to club level doesn't always translate. Coleman after a successful Wales campaign struggled at Sunderland. Conte won the league with Chelsea after a middling time at Italy. There's plenty of examples to prove anything. Point being, even if you take away the fact Martinez is managing one of the top national sides in the world as an advantage at club level, he's not going to bleeding come here. Not with this regime, and certainly not in the championship.

That being said, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the SPL by September.

[bodacious benny]

Slightly left field suggestion if we went down...John Terry? Got a good 3(?) years experience under Dean Smith now. Whether he’d be remotely interested or see it as too big a risk is another matter.

[UlversToon]

Honestly I can see Bruce still being in charge next season whatever league we are in.

[beardface]

I’m just desperate for Eddie Howe to come in at this point. We’ve got plenty of Bournemouth links with Graeme Jones, Wilson, Fraser & Ritchie. Give Eddie the job and he can transform our style of play. Tell him he’s got the job still even if we go down and see if he can provide the fundamental change we need. I’d rather be in the Championship with him than another season in the Prem with Bruce

[Speedo]

Slightly left field suggestion if we went down...John Terry? Got a good 3(?) years experience under Dean Smith now. Whether he’d be remotely interested or see it as too big a risk is another matter.

Would rather have colonic irrigation than see us appoint that knobhead.

[Colly]

Slightly left field suggestion if we went down...John Terry? Got a good 3(?) years experience under Dean Smith now. Whether he’d be remotely interested or see it as too big a risk is another matter.

Would rather have colonic irrigation than see us appoint that knobhead.

[Valentino's fast feet]

I’m just desperate for Eddie Howe to come in at this point. We’ve got plenty of Bournemouth links with Graeme Jones, Wilson, Fraser & Ritchie. Give Eddie the job and he can transform our style of play. Tell him he’s got the job still even if we go down and see if he can provide the fundamental change we need. I’d rather be in the Championship with him than another season in the Prem with Bruce

Jones joined Bournemouth after Howe's regime didn't he? Either way those three key players worked under him, so should be good chemistry. He'd be my first choice for sure, not sure he'd want to come though haha. Can see him going to Celtic at the end of the season.

[Remember Colo]

I actually could have seen a scenario where Bruce got fired this year. Had we started the year like it's gone in the mid third of the season, I think he would be gone already. But with this little left, I can't see them making a change, as much as one is probably necessary.

If I see one more fan ask to be put out of their misery by being relegated...nobody can convince me it's in the club's best interests to be relegated, or that it would make it easier on us the fans.

[bodacious benny]

I don’t think for one second that relegation benefits anyone, I just genuinely don’t care if it happens as we deserve it. The only person who benefits from us being in the PL is Ashley. Even last season we had some wins against big sides to enjoy (Spurs, Chelsea, Man U) that glossed over some cracks but we don’t even have that occasional joy now

[ALF]

I can't see him going even if we go down. They'll see his Championship experience as perfect to get us back up.

[Sanchino]

I’m just desperate for Eddie Howe to come in at this point. We’ve got plenty of Bournemouth links with Graeme Jones, Wilson, Fraser & Ritchie. Give Eddie the job and he can transform our style of play. Tell him he’s got the job still even if we go down and see if he can provide the fundamental change we need. I’d rather be in the Championship with him than another season in the Prem with Bruce

I'll take this for sure.

[Don Sholeone]

I'd have concerns over Howe, Bournemouth looked awful last season when they got into the relegation scrap.

[Valentino's fast feet]

I'd have concerns over Howe, Bournemouth looked awful last season when they got into the relegation scrap.

It does happen sometimes. Someone football famous probably once said that you need to change the team or the manager every four or five years in order to be successful. Things stagnate. A good high profile example is Klopp at Dortmund. There's obviously issues now at all conquering Liverpool, but his final season at Dortmund the wheels properly fell off for whatever reason. Greater football minds than mine may be able to shed more light on it, but from the outside it just looked like the end of a good run. I think they weren't far off the relegation playoffs in the end.

As for Howe and Bournemouth, I think the same applies. He took them as far as he could, and he is arguably the greatest manager in that club's history. There's only so far a club can go without change, we can attest to that. As can Wigan after many a great escape, latterly under Martinez - the positive there obviously being the FA cup win. Bournemouth went down and Howe walked away in good grace, but they didn't significantly change the playing staff, and they didn't really change the backroom staff. They hired from within, with an inexperienced manager in Tindall, ultimately replacing him with an inexperienced Woodgate. I'd argue there's quite a few high level issues going on at that club that have nothing to do with Eddie Howe's tenure.

With him coming here, I've said plenty of times that I'd be all for it. My issue is whether he'd be willing to join the circus. I certainly can't think of a better manager that would be reasonable, realistic, and potentially interested. Even if we do stay up.

[TJR]

I'd have concerns over Howe, Bournemouth looked awful last season when they got into the relegation scrap.

It does happen sometimes. Someone football famous probably once said that you need to change the team or the manager every four or five years in order to be successful. Things stagnate. A good high profile example is Klopp at Dortmund. There's obviously issues now at all conquering Liverpool, but his final season at Dortmund the wheels properly fell off for whatever reason. Greater football minds than mine may be able to shed more light on it, but from the outside it just looked like the end of a good run. I think they weren't far off the relegation playoffs in the end.

As for Howe and Bournemouth, I think the same applies. He took them as far as he could, and he is arguably the greatest manager in that club's history. There's only so far a club can go without change, we can attest to that. As can Wigan after many a great escape, latterly under Martinez - the positive there obviously being the FA cup win. Bournemouth went down and Howe walked away in good grace, but they didn't significantly change the playing staff, and they didn't really change the backroom staff. They hired from within, with an inexperienced manager in Tindall, ultimately replacing him with an inexperienced Woodgate. I'd argue there's quite a few high level issues going on at that club that have nothing to do with Eddie Howe's tenure.

With him coming here, I've said plenty of times that I'd be all for it. My issue is whether he'd be willing to join the circus. I certainly can't think of a better manager that would be reasonable, realistic, and potentially interested. Even if we do stay up.

It was Sir Alex Ferguson who said that. He always made big changes to his Man Utd side every 5 years or so. Often even shipping out star plays. It worked and he was successful until the end.

As you mention, Klopp found that at Dortmund and Liverpool are now finding out the hard way as well (though the issues of covid e.g less transfers, more fixture congestion, lower tempo games etc have obviously also had a big impact). They probably need to replace at least two if not all 3 of Salah/Mane/Firmino to freshen things up. You'd think Klopp would have learnt from his Dortmund days.

The job Howe did at Bournemouth was incredible. He got them promoted well beyond there level. The stadium only holds 12,000, they're a league one club. He got them into the Premier League and kept them there for a number of years. They did need to freshen things up squad wise a bit more which was a mistake. Though I don't know how much of that was down to him and how much was down to the club. Also the transfer policy of signing below average English players for extortionate transfer fees contributed massively to the relegation. Again though that could be more down to the club than Howe.

I'd definitely take a chance on Howe. Though at the stage I'd take Carver back over Bruce. At least Howe might get us playing some better , more attacking football which will paper over some of the cracks until Ashley finally gets his wish and someone buys the club.