BRUCE TO PUT JACK BACK ON TRACK
STEVE BRUCE has promised to steer Jack Grealish away from trouble and into the spotlight for all the right reasons.
Aston Villa’s new boss says that he will throw a protective arm around the England Under-21 international as he has done with other players who have veered off the straight and narrow.
Grealish has been pictured sprawled out on a Tenerife street on holiday and only last month was threatened with being fined two weeks’ wages – around £32,000 – after police were called to an all-night party he attended at a Birmingham hotel.
The Villa playmaker starred for England U21s as they demolished Bosnia & Herzegovina 5-0 in midweek.
But he has courted controversy under the reigns of both Tim Sherwood and Roberto Di Matteo with his off-field antics. However Bruce has a reputation for polishing rough diamonds – he took Jermaine Pennant from Arsenal while in charge at Birmingham City.
Offences
Although the ex-Gunners’ trainee served a jail term for drink-driving offences during his time at St Andrew’s, Bruce eventually got the best out of Pennant – before selling him on to Liverpool for £6.75million.
Bruce said: “As we have seen before there is a big difference between potential and being a regular. You have to do the work – that goes for Jack and everyone else. That’s important. If I can help him progress and bring the best out of him then we have got a player.”
Bruce went so far as to loan Pennant the use of a flat he had bought so as he could keep an eye on him, and went to visit him in prison after the winger’s sentence was handed down.
He added: “I’ve never been one to be put off by someone who has got a little bit of something about them. That’s the best way to put it... they test you.
“When I started out in management 20 years ago, metaphorically speaking, you would hit them every day with a stick. That’s changed. Being a player has changed. They are rock-stars, if you like. They are targets and they have to deal with that.”
STEVE McCLAREN will look into the possibility of taking striker Chris Martin back from Fulham in January.
The 27-year-old was allowed to go on loan in August by former Derby boss Nigel Pearson. But Pearson was sacked and the returning McClaren is keen to link up with Martin once again.