Bruce trying to forge triumph from tragedy
WIN or lose at Wembley today, Steve Bruce will end Aston Villa’s play-off final with a heavy heart.
Whether this Championship final against Fulham brings joy or despair for Villa, the final whistle will mark the end of a campaign that has tested their veteran manager like none before.
While transforming a shambolic club into promotion contenders, Bruce has been forced to deal with family heartbreak.
The 57-year-old lost his father, Joe, in February and his mother, Sheenagh, at the start of this month. Her funeral was held last week, less than 24 hours after Bruce led his club to Wembley with victory over Middlesbrough in the semi-final, and her death will leave a poignant absence under the Wembley arch.
“My mum always enjoyed Wembley so she would have been getting her outfit,” said an emotional Bruce. “She loved Wembley and my dad wouldn’t have gone. He couldn’t stand it.
“My mum was a total one-off and my biggest supporter. She was terrific.
“At Sunderland, when it turned pear-shaped, they sort of attacked her. She rang me and said, ‘Stephen, I don’t think I’m going back any more’.
“I said ‘Mum, I don’t think I’ll be going back any more either’, and I got the sack on the Tuesday.”
For Bruce, personal turmoil has provided a tragic backdrop to the biggest challenge of his managerial career.
When he took charge in 2016, he inherited a club still reeling after relegation from the Premier League just a few months earlier and flirting with an unthinkable drop into League One.
For a club whose place at the top table had once seemed guaranteed, a return had become a distant target.
“Let’s be fair, Aston Villa went down with a whimper,” said Bruce. “For the fans there was no association with the players any more, it had broken.
“The only thing you can do is try to get a bit of honesty, get a bit of endeavour back and win a few matches.”
Bruce set about reversing the direction of a club by changing the atmosphere of a dressing room that had become locked in a spiral of decline and under achievement.
He did so by recruiting several
experienced PAUL HURST may have to walk his dog Archie elsewhere if Shrewsbury clinch promotion at Wembley tomorrow.
The 43-year-old Shrews boss lives in Rotherham, who stand between his side and a place in the Championship.
Hurst holds the record number of appearances with 497 for the Millers. professionals, including Glenn Whelan, Ahmed Elmohamady and, most notably, John Terry.
“There were too many bad apples here and we haven’t got any more,” he said.
Many players tainted by relegation fell by the wayside, along with some recruited by Roberto Di Matteo in the first summer of spending under Tony Xia, the ambitious new Chinese owner.
Others remained and rose to the challenge. Alan Hutton, a former member of the Villa ‘bomb squad’ frozen out by former manager Paul Lambert, became a crucial player while Mile Jedinak and James Chester, two Di Matteo signings, carved out key roles in Bruce’s squad.
And Jack Grealish, whose off-field scrapes had raised doubts about his ability to fulfil his rich potential, turned around his game and became the creative force of the new Villa.
Fulham beat that side 2-0 at Craven Cottage in February, having lost 2-1 at Villa Park in October, and while their football has impressed neutrals, few would begrudge Bruce the chance to lead Villa back to the big time after two seasons away.
“The number of messages of support and cards I’ve had has been quite remarkable,” he said. “I’ve worked all my life to have an opportunity to be at a big club and I’ve not been disappointed with it.
“Whether it would be the biggest achievement, I don’t know. How do you judge it? With what’s happened in my personal life, of course, it would maybe be the most satisfying.” “I walked my dog this week and got talking to a Rotherham fan, then I bumped into another,” he said.
“I try to find some fields where there aren’t too many people, and some wildlife. Some might throw more than stick at me if we win. It seems as if fate has thrown up this game.”
Rotherham will hope it is their afternoon to bounce straight back up.
Full-back Joe Mattock said: “Last year was hugely disappointing but we’ve put it behind us and excelled.”