Bruce proud of mending bond with Villa fans

By Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce is proud of how he has revitalised the club and hopes to complete the job with promotion to the Premier League.

Bruce took over a club in crisis after relegation at the end of the 2015-16 season.

He was shocked at the culture in the dressing room and the relationship between the players and fans had turned toxic.

But the 57-year-old has repaired that broken bond since replacing Roberto Di Matteo in October 2016 and Villa now stand on the brink of a top-flight return ahead of today’s Sky Bet Championship play-off final against Fulham.

While victory at Wembley would be Bruce’s biggest success at Villa, he counts getting the once great club back on track as his best achievement.

“Let’s be fair, Aston Villa went down with a whimper. There was no association with the players anymore, it had broken down,” said Bruce.

“The first game against Wolves, I thought oh, oh, wow! Of course the culture of the club at the time was... I mean, we hadn’t won away from home for 18 months.

“Some of the stats were just ridiculous. My initial thought was, ‘we’ve got to stop the rot here and just keep the club in the Championship’. That’s how low I thought it had got.

“We’ve worked tirelessly, changed the squad hugely and thankfully with winning games it’s starting to mend with the supporters.

“There were times when they wanted to rip my head off and rip the heads off the players. But now, I believe they enjoy seeing what we have at the moment.”

Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic believes playing the best football in the Championship could give his side a Wembley edge.

“At the start of the season if someone bet on Villa against Fulham, people would bet on Villa,” he said.

“Afterthelastfewmonths where we showed we can play the best football in the Championship, we can be favourites.

“Now is not important who is favourite and who is not. We will see in the end.”