Bruce has taken four points from his first two matches as Aston Villa manager.
New Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce has shared with Talksport his message for the club’s fringe players upon taking the reins at Villa Park.
Bruce has taken four points from his two games in charge, and led the Villans to their first away win in 14 months at Reading on Tuesday night.
His line up at the Madejski Stadium contained a number of lesser-spotted Villa players, including Alan Hutton, Nathan Baker, Albert Adomah and Gary Gardner – all of whom had started fewer than five league matches prior to the game – and it would appear that Bruce’s words are filtering through.
“The first thing I said to everybody concerned (was) I’m not really bothered about what’s happened in the past,” the 56-year-old told Talksport. “Whatever’s happened in the past is gone. When I walked through the door a week ago I just said to them all, just listen: whatever’s gone, then the slate’s wiped clean. You’ve got to try to impress me, get into the team and if you get in the team and you’re playing well then you stay there.
“So I’ll give everybody, hopefully, a fighting chance.”
With the emergency loan window scrapped this season, Aston Villa’s fringe players are likely to have another two-and-a-bit months to impress their new boss before he can recruit again – unless Bruce decides to enter the free transfer market.
Already, the former Hull City boss has been linked with moves for two of his old Tigers players, Abel Hernandez and Ahmed Elmohamady.
With an abundance of strikers already on Villa’s books however, the former appears a somewhat unlikely target.
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