Aston Villa appear to be sticking by under-fire manager Steve Bruce.
Keith Wyness
Aston Villa chief executive Keith Wyness has told BBC Radio West Midlands that there is ‘absolutely no question’ that the club are sticking with Steve Bruce as their manager.
Villa moved to appoint Bruce – who won promotion from the Championship with Hull City last season – after Roberto Di Matteo struggled in the hot seat, and some fans were a little underwhelmed given his ties to rivals Birmingham City.
However, Bruce made an instant impact at Villa Park to silence his doubters; with just two defeats in his first 13 games in charge, Bruce pulled Villa away from the relegation zone with quiet confidence that a play-off push could be within reach.
Unfortunately for Villa, the start to 2017 has been miserable. In eight league games since the turn of the year, Villa have picked up just one point – and even that came with a second half collapse against Preston, in which Villa squandered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2.
The club’s unbeaten home record this season has been shattered by Ipswich Town and Barnsley in recent weeks, and Villa now lie just six points clear of the relegation zone, and fans are looking nervously at the bottom three less than 12 months after being relegated from the Premier League.
A January spending spree which saw Villa bring in eight new faces – Sam Johnstone, James Bree, Jacob Bedeau, Neil Taylor, Birkir Bjarnason, Conor Hourihane, Henri Lansbury and Scott Hogan – hasn’t helped at all, with some suggestions that Bruce has made a mistake trying to bed them all in at once.
Bruce desperately need a win to again quieten fans who believe that he isn’t the right man for the job, with today’s clash against Derby County now pivotal.
Aston Villa Manager Steve Bruce
Ahead of that game, Villa’s chief executive Keith Wyness has told BBC Radio West Midlands that the club are undoubtedly sticking by Bruce having only appointed him in October, with Villa looking to the future under the former Wigan and Sunderland boss.
Wyness noted that managers such as Tim Sherwood, Remi Garde and Roberto Di Matteo were all sacked after just one transfer window, but did suggest that Bruce and Villa made something of a mistake in the transfer market, in terms of moving too many players in and out of the club too quickly.
“There is absolutely no question that we are sticking with Steve,” said Wyness. “We’ve been really happy with the way he’s shaking things up at Bodymoor and the way he’s trying to get out of this rut shows the character of the man. We’ve had five managers who have had one transfer window. Each manager has tried to change things. We saw when Steve came in that there was a run starting to happen.”
“He’ll admit himself that maybe we moved too quick to try and get better, in terms of the new formation. I think we tried to move too many players in too quickly and he may admit that himself. We recognise we are Aston Villa and that we have to move on and try and get better,” he added.
Do you think Bruce is the right man for Villa?
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
