Steve Bruce: Turning Aston Villa around my biggest challenge
Friday 25 August 2017 23:32, UK
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce believes changing the fortunes of the club is the toughest challenge he's faced.
The 56-year-old admitted Villa's dressing room was low on confidence when he arrived and it was necessary to sell a lot of the club's players in order to start again.
Bruce saw his side pick up a point after going a goal behind at Bristol City, thanks to a Josh Onomah strike on Friday night.
Since taking charge at Villa Park in October 2016, Bruce has stabilised the club, bringing in experienced players John Terry and Glenn Whelan over the summer as he looks to challenge for promotion after finishing 13th last time around.
Asked about how he's overhauled the squad, Bruce told Sky Sports Football: "I think that's the biggest challenge I've probably faced in my managerial career. The club getting relegated had a horrible atmosphere to it and all them lads in the club lost half their salary, so as soon as I walked into the club there were a lot of miserable faces for a start.
"If you approach the Championship like we've just witnessed tonight, sort of half-hearted, and not really showing the energy or the desire to make a fist of it, no matter what sort of player you think you are then you're not going to achieve anything in the Championship.
"I think it was important that a most of those players were moved on and we moved to a new era, if you like. I've brought in some experience and the young ones are the ones who have particularly impressed me and they're going to be the future and I think the way forward."
The Villa boss was pleased with the character his players showed, evidence of what he has instilled within the squad.
It was a much-needed point for a Villa team who have the worst away record across the top four divisions over the last seven years, giving Bruce a reason for optimism, even though he was not pleased with the goal they conceded.
"We've got to make sure we improve, especially away from home, but I think on the night the draw was probably a fair result. At least there's improvement from the previous two, which wouldn't be difficult, if I'm being very honest. They stuck at it and there was a response from when we went behind, from an awful goal.
"The whole thing, in my eyes, whether you thought it was a foul or wasn't, [the referee] took an eternity to give it; the No 9 is in an offside position and putting Chezzy [James Chester] off the clearance, so all of those things conspired against us. It was the response. Can we have a response in the game and get something out of it? And we did that manfully."
