Jack’s in the spotlight for all the right reasons now
STEVE Bruce is delighted to see Jack Grealish in the spotlight for all the right reasons after his crucial winner against Cardiff City.
The talented 22-year-old has courted controversy down the years, most notably when pictures emerged of him sprawled out across a Tenerife street after a boozy boys’ night out in June 2015.
But the Solihull-born midfielder let his football do all the talking on Tuesday night when his 85th-minute volley saw off promotion rivals Cardiff at Villa Park.
“Since he came back into the team around Christmas he has tried to play with a maturity,” Bruce said. “I think the injury shocked him. “How a freak injury like that can put you on the backburner really.
“He’s spent a lot of time in the gym, as we’ve spoken about, and he rightly gets the plaudits for the right reason.
“Too often we’re talking about him the other way.
“Thankfully we’re talking about him on the back pages now.”
The win saw Villa move to within four points of Cardiff, although the Bluebirds have a game in hand.
Grealish proved to be the jewel in Villa’s crown on a night when Prince William was an interested spectator inside the ground.
“Yes, he came team!,” Bruce joked.
“The future King is an Aston Villa fan. Not many clubs can have that as your number one fan.
“To be fair to him he knows his stuff and it was good to see him.
“Just before the teams were in he came into the dressing room and it was good to see him.
“We’ll give him a week that’s for sure!”
The result capped a miserable few days for Cardiff boss Neil Warnock.
Warnock saw his team miss two injury time penalties in Friday night’s nerve-shredding defeat to Wolves. and picked ticket for the next
The 69-year-old Englishman slammed his Wolves counterpart Nuno Santo Espirito after the Portuguese ran onto the pitch to celebrate with his players without first shaking hands.
And the defeat to Villa saw Cardiff slip out of the top two, with red-hot Fulham moving into the automatic promotion places after their 1-0 win
The wheels are coming off for Cardiff and Warnock at the worst possible time.
Having made a career out of rubbing opposing managers and players up the wrong way, many will take great satisfaction in Warnock’s lateseason woes.
Not Bruce, who had a degree sympathy for the Yorkshireman.
“Like him or loathe him he’s very good at what he does,” the Villa boss said. “He’s been around the block.
“He’s got a lot of enemies, but he certainly hasn’t got one in me.
“To be in it at nearly 70 years old and still have the enthusiasm is remarkable. “Eight promotions is it? “You always know when you come up against one of his teams that you’ve got to be ready.
“He’s done it year in and year out so I can only say complimentary things about him.” of