Rowett and Bruce face off as Birmingham City host Villa on Sunday.
Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett has backed his Aston Villa counterpart Steve Bruce to turn Villa around in the manner that he improved the fortunes of the Blues, as quoted by the Mirror.
Rowett and Bruce will come face-to-face on Sunday as Blues host their arch-rivals at St. Andrew’s in the first league meeting between the sides since January 2011.
Rowett’s side come into the match on the back of an excellent start to the season, although they have lost two of their last three matches.
Blues have lost just three of their first 14 league fixtures, and have not lost at home since a 3-1 reverse to Wolves on 20 August.
However, they will face a rejuvenated Villa side, whom ex-Blues boss Bruce has led to an unbeaten three-game start to his reign, including back-to-back victories.
Rowett made a strong impact when first appointed at St. Andrew’s, steering the club away from relegation trouble, and he has confidence that Bruce will yield similar results at Villa Park.
He told the Mirror: “Villa have been through a very poor period, and finally they have come a cropper after four or five years of fighting for survival. Now, with more resources than us, they are trying to do what we’ve been doing for the last two years and turn it around.
“This club was at a low ebb when we came in – we didn’t have a lot of money. So we had to build a platform for progress based on common sense and pragmatism, and to be fair I think Steve will do that at Villa.”
For all the talk of their poor start, Villa have also only been beaten three times in the Championship this season, and under Bruce they finally look to have cracked the code to turning uninspiring draws into wins, with two winners int he last 10 minutes in their last two games.
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