Bruce is the heavy favourite to be appointed at Villa Park.
Pundit and former Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore has told BBC WM that Steve Bruce will need a thick skin and a fast start if he is to be a success at the club.
Bruce, who left promoted Hull City earlier this year, has emerged as the heavy favourite to replace the sacked Roberto di Matteo at Villa Park.
The former Manchester United defender could be a controversial choice amongst many Villa fans, as they remember his successful six-year spell in charge of rivals Birmingham City at the start of the century.
Collymore has acknowledged that and suggested that Bruce will need to start in good form if he is to avoid having that time in charge at St. Andrew’s held against him.
The former striker told BBC WM, as quoted by the Birmingham Mail: “If Steve Bruce loses two or three games, he is going to be ‘Bluenose Bruce’.
“That’s a reality and he is going to have to be thick-skinned.”
Regardless of his Blues connections, the prospect of Bruce’s appointment is splitting opinion amongst Villa fans, many of whom are unsure as to whether he is the man to take the club forward.
However, he has led both Birmingham and Hull to the Premier League, winning promotion twice with the latter, and has good credentials managing in both the Championship and the top flight.
It remains to be seen if he is the man Villa owner Tony Xia chooses to lead the club’s revival, but with three managers already having come and gone since February 2015, the appointment needs to be the right one.
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