TOXIC VILLA
Chester: Atmosphere in dressing room was awful but Brucie’s sorted that
JAMES CHESTER has revealed that the atmosphere in Aston Villa’s dressing-room was so toxic that the players were scared to criticise each other.
Villa’s skipper has lifted the lid on the mess inherited by Steve Bruce ( below) after a mixed start to the Geordie’s reign at the club.
Bruce’s arrival saw an immediate impact, encouraging a belief that the former European Champions could push themselves into the play-off mix.
But seven defeats in eight games has extinguished those hopes, and Chester, 28, said: “After our current run, we have not had any team meetings as such. But words are spoken after games – and it’s an element of this club that needs to improve.
“I found when I arrived that it was difficult to hand out advice or criticism without getting something back. People felt like it was a personal attack.
“When you’ve been beaten up so many times, like this club has been over recent years, and you receive criticism, you hit back straightaway.
“You feel like it’s an attack. It’s not. It’s criticism to get a response and bring about an improvement.
“But I think that will change now with the group we’ve got here. We’ve got a lot of honest people.”
Back-to-back home defeats have led to grumbles in the stands. But Chester says that is understandable and, if anything, the supporters have been too soft on the players.
He added: “Villa fans have suffered. They’ve been in and around the bottom of the Premier League for a number of years – and now they are in the Championship.
“With the form we’ve shown over the last six weeks, they could have made it worse for the players.
“They are well within their rights to be having a moan and, if I’m honest, they’ve been gentle on us.
“It certainly wouldn’t have been unwarranted given the results against Ipswich and Barnsley in the past week.
“It’s a huge privilege to be playing for this club. We need to turn around the embarrassment and suffering that the fans have felt for a long time.
“We’re convinced by the players that the gaffer’s brought in during January. Having worked with him before at Hull, I know we have the right people to turn it around.
“But it’s difficult. The longer it goes on, the harder it is to get out of.” There was a huge change at Villa during the January transfer window. Six players left the club and seven arrived.
That churn has been a factor in the dip in form, but Chester says it should not be used as an excuse. He said: “It’s one reason. I think there’s only three players here now who were at the club when I signed last August.
“There is a settling- in period. Individually, every member of our squad would get into pretty much any team in this division.
“So we certainly have the ability to pick up results. But we have just been too easy to play against in recent weeks. The players we have here, we should be doing better, regardless of whether they are new or not.
“But the more we play together, things will start to click and we’ll get this club going in the right direction.
“It’s a tough game, going to the Championship leaders, but if there is a negative on Newcastle’s season, it’s that they have been beaten at home, so in that respect it is a good time to go there.”