The Birmingham Mail worked out recently that Aston Villa would be in the running to make the play-offs, based on average points acquired per game, had they had Steve Bruce as manager from the start of the season.
Bruce took over at Villa Park following the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo in October. The Italian, who won the Champions League as manager of Chelsea, was swiftly appointed by Dr. Tony Xia in the summer. Since then, the Villa hierarchy have admitted that they should have taken more time over making a decision. After 11 games, Di Matteo’s Villa had acquired just 10 points, forcing Dr. Xia to act quickly and relieve him of his duties.
Had Bruce been in charge from the start, Villa would have around 66 points, which would place them only three points behind Sheffield Wednesday in 6th.
Di Matteo’s Villa averaged just the 0.9 points per game during his tenure. Had Villa not have sacked Di Matteo and they had continued in the same form,they would now have just 37 points, and facing a very tense last five matches. Villa would be level on points with Wigan, who sit in 23rd place, and 7 points adrift of safety.
