Dean Saunders revealed that he wouldn’t have been so quick to sack Steve Bruce before comparing his former club to Sunderland and Nottingham Forest.
The former Villans striker shared that he feared for his former side as he didn’t want them to change manager every season like Sunderland did and that he had seen how Nottingham Forest had remained stuck in the Championship due to their constant change of senior man.
Saunders shared his only fear regarding Aston Villa was the effect the club’s recent decision to part with Bruce could have on the dressing room as it could now be divided.
“I know how the Villa fans feel, I love the club and I played there and I don’t want to argue with them as they were frustrating with what was going on but I’ve also seen Nottingham Forest since 99 have 17 managers and they’re still in the Championship,” said Saunders on talkSPORT (Saturday October 13th, 14:59).
“And Villa have had five managers in five years and whose appointed them? Are they all wrong? Are all those managers rubbish? They’ve all failed, all of them, whose appointed them? Who’s above them who is making those decisions?
“He came in (Respond to Di Matteo changing squad around) and tried to play total football with a new group of players in the Championship and left them widely open and getting beating.
“Then I thought Steve Bruce was the right man for the job, correct me if I’m wrong because y’know you’re there all the time and your stats are gonna be correct, Steve Bruce took over in October when the club were nearly going into the league below, struggling and he got them up to 10th so that season is a write off.
“The next season he gets them into the play-offs and they lost by one goal in the final last year so with all the problems he has had in the summer, they were going out of business at one point, he lost a lot of players, Terry retires, but so they’ve got it in play-off and they nearly won it and Steve Bruce was nearly the right man for the job.
“So this year they’ve had a dodgy start but for me the Championship is a grand national and it’s a long race and long as you’re there or there abouts all you have to do is go on a run, they were on a bad run, Glenn Whelan’s penalty goes in, they’re fifth.
“Now you’ve got a new manager come in, who will get rid of six or seven Bruce’s players, bring six or seven of his own in and then you get a dressing room which has got 24 players, which has six in that corner, six in that corner and six in that corner all with different agendas, that’s what happened at Sunderland.
“And that is my only fear for Aston Villa if you’re changing a manager every year, is it all the managers who are all wrong or people above them not appointing the right men or given them long enough?”
OPINION
Saunders is right to be fearful over the Villans getting into the habit of binning their managers at the first sign of trouble but Bruce was clearly struggling. The fans appeared to had turned against him and once that happens, the writing is on the wall. While Saunders opts to compare the Villans to fallen giants Sunderland, who find themselves in League One, and Forest, who have been treading water in England’s second-tier for years, he may just be needlessly fearing the worst. While it’s true the Villans have seen several new managers attempt to bring success to the club in recent times, it is a new era behind the scenes. Dean Smith is the first appointment under the new owners and only time will tell if they’re trigger happy. If the former Brentford boss is given his marching orders before the end of the season then Saunders should sound the alarm bells about potentially being the new Sunderland from the rooftops but until them, maybe he should wait to see how the new owners opt to run the club.