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da realbet： A poor start to the season saw Aston Villa take the decision to be the first club in the English second tier to part ways with their manager, sacking Steve Bruce.
A poor run of form is what cost Bruce his job, after so nearly being the chosen one that got the Claret and Blue side back into the big time last season. Instead, his next attempt saw Villa pick up just 15 points from the opening 11 games, winning just three times.
The final nail in Bruce’s Villa coffin was a 3-3 draw with bottom of the table Preston North End, where the Birmingham side were outplayed at home. Bruce’s night failed to start well, either, when a fan threw a cabbage at the Manchester United legend along with a tirade of abuse.
So, what happens next for the Villans? Football FanCast look at three potential consequences of the change in management at Villa Park…
Thierry Henry gets his managerial debut
Before Villa’s board took the decision to part ways with Bruce, they had publicly backed their man following mounting speculation that Thierry Henry was to take charge in the summer.
But from being “absolutely delighted” when the new owners gave him their backing to a run of form that has left them seven points adrift of joint-top Leeds United and Middlesbrough, the tables turned on Bruce and Henry is once again in the frame for the job.
The Arsenal icon that turned down Bordeaux in the summer returns to the list of potential suitors. Other possible candidates include Dean Smith and Paulo Fonseca, while John Terry is also being tipped for a potential return having captained Bruce’s side to the Championship play-off final.
The possibility of Henry taking over would mean the French World Cup winner would be getting his first taste of being a manager.
Henry would likely bring a taste for the attack to Villa Park, having been one of the top strikers in Europe and one that played in flowing, offensive sides, bringing his own adaptation of Wenger-ball to the West Midlands.
To round off the coaching set-up, Terry has been rumoured to follow up his recent retirement as a player to be a part of Henry’s dugout staff. Terry captained Villa to Wembley last year but left in the summer when his one-year deal expired and has since hung up his boots.
Bringing the talent from paper to pitch
Aston Villa’s squad is on paper a talented group, with Jack Grealish a Premier League target in the summer for Tottenham Hotspur before signing a new five-year deal with Villa.
Getting Grealish and the rest of the team firing again on all cylinders must be the key priority for whoever gets the job, with the 23-year-old yet to score in any of his 12 Championship appearances this season and only setting up a single goal.
Micah Richards may also be in line to be brought in from the cold as the new boss look to add experience to the side in their quest to get results.
Richards, now 30, has played just two games for Aston Villa since the start of the 2016/17 season following his part in the club’s relegation from the Premier League.
Drawing on the experience of a player who has simply been a drain of the club’s finances will certainly help put the player back in the shop window if nothing else.
Changing Villa’s fortunes
Aston Villa have been in a sorry state ever since losing out on Premier League promotion at the hands of Fulham. With Bruce gone, and a new man coming soon, Aston Villa can look to change the club’s fortunes and re-establish itself amongst the league’s big hitters as it looks to turn the tides and fight for promotion.
The Championship has often been an unpredictable league with form sides slipping and surging all the time, and Villa fans will be hoping their team will be climbing rather than sliding.
Should Henry and Terry come on board as a coaching double act, expect to see Henry look to reignite the fire in the bellies of the offence and Terry sure up the backline that has kept one clean sheet in the league.
An immediate target for the new gaffer will be to rival what Leeds United have been able to do under its new boss Marcelo Biesla.
Biesla joined Leeds in the summer and brought a fresh spark to the club with a radical approach that has proved successful so far as the Whites sit joint top of the table.
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