After years of turmoil, Villa fans could be forgiven for not wanting McClaren at their club. Luckily, they were never likely to get him.
Aston Villa owner Tony Xia has taken to Twitter to emphatically refute suggestions that he was considering hiring Steve McClaren as the club’s new manager.
Steve Bruce, who guided Villa’s Midlands rivals Birmingham City to the Premier League in 2002, was confirmed as the replacement for Roberto Di Matteo (below) after the Italian was sacked as his expensively assembled squad drifted rapidly out of promotion contention.
Villa had been linked with a huge number of candidates before Bruce emerged as the outright favourite, with Huddersfield’s David Wagner, deposed Derby gaffer Nigel Pearson and former boss Tim Sherwood reportedly in the frame.
However, Dr Xia, who is already preparing to make his second managerial appointment just months after completing his takeover of the club this summer, has revealed that former Derby and Newcastle boss McClaren had not even warranted a place in his 25-man shortlist, although he admits that many of his colleagues admired the work of the 55-year-old.
Despite his connections with Birmingham, Bruce (below) initially appears to be a popular appointment with Villa fans, having guided Hull to promotion from the second tier on two separate occasions before resigning this summer due to a lack of investment in the squad.
The genial Northerner certainly appears a ‘safer pair of hands’ than McClaren, who is set to return to former club Derby 17 months after being sacked for failing to lead the perennial promotion favourites to the promised land of the Premier League via a dismal stint at Newcastle.
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