Steve Bruce and his backroom team will be handed a £2million pay-off by Aston Villa, according to the Daily Mail.
The newspaper claim Bruce was dismissed by recently-appointed chief executive Christian Purslow on Wednesday along with his assistants Colin Calderwood, Steve Agnew, Stephen Clemence, and Gary Walsh.
The Mail report the coaching quintet will land the combined seven-figure pay-off as Villa count the cost of leaving the path clear to appoint a new management team.
OPINION
As every top-level manager knows, the period around the October international break is the sacking season. Clubs usually wait until the two-week recess begins before pulling the trigger, but the Villa hierarchy have acted quickly to give themselves as much time as possible to have a new man in place for 20 October, their first match after the forthcoming break. Bruce leaves with his pride and reputation damaged, and reflecting on how he has eventually paid the price for the Wembley failure in May, when Fulham squeezed home and back into the Premier League elite despite having less resources than the Midlands giants. Naturally, the £2million pay-off to Bruce and his henchmen will soften the blow of their exits, and they can be assured that the football gravy train will stop again at their doors in the future. Bruce is a promotion specialist and, despite his exit and a difficult few months, he will land another plum job when is good and ready.