Eight games left in the season, 11 points adrift of the play-off places. It’s fair to say that Aston Villa will not be promoted back to the Premier League at the first time of asking which begs the question: Is Steve Bruce still the right man for Aston Villa?
After the Roberto Di Matteo experiment ended in flames with the club ending 19th in the Championship table with just one win on the board, a decision was made to bring in Bruce to steady the ship.
Bruce, an experienced manager at this level and a four-time promotion winner in his managerial career, seemed like a wise appointment after his decision to leave Hull shortly before the start of the season.
While he got off to a hot start, a seven-match unbeaten run with four wins in that stretch, Villa’s ascent towards the play-off went off the boil at the turn of the year.
During a 10 game stretch between January 2nd and February 20th, Villa lost eight games in all competitions including seven in the league which saw them again move in the wrong direction back towards the relegation zone.
A second season in the Championship looms and hopefully Villa will again be amongst the favourites for promotion to be predicted by CrownBet on this page.
Twice with Birmingham and twice with Hull – Steve Bruce knows what it takes to get out of the Championship and it doesn’t always have to be done at the first time of asking.
Owner Tony Xia gave Bruce the funds to make some signings during the January transfer window and the likes of Scott Hogan, Conor Hourihane and Henry Lansbury, all seasoned players at this level, have helped Villa stabilise in mid-table of late.
Since that terrible 10 game run, Bruce’s men have won four of five Championship games but this late-season revival is too little, too late in terms of a play-off bid.
Perhaps a slightly pro-longed stay in England’s second tier will give Bruce a chance to properly shape the squad how he wants it, which will give him a fighting chance of competing at the right end of the table.
Too many hasty decisions are made these days. Bruce has the skins on the wall and needs to be stuck with for the foreseeable future.
