Aston Villa reportedly make contact with Steve Bruce regarding managerial vacancy
Villa have made contact with bookies favourite Steve Bruce over their vacant managerial position, it has been claimed.
Former England striker-turned-TV pundit Alan Shearer reckons the 55-year-old has been spoken to by the club, who are looking for their fourth permanent manager in less than a year following the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo.
Bruce, with four promotions from the Championship on his CV, is an odds-on favourite for the job and Shearer, who was speaking to TalkSPORT, reckons it would be a good appointment.
He said: "Well he's spoke to them. How the talks have gone I haven't got a clue but it's not surprising that the big clubs will want Brucey because when you look at his record for bringing clubs up from the Championship it is second to none.
"It's a no-brainer that club will want to hire him and it depends whether he can go in and do things his own way.
"Again, when you look at how much has been spent by Aston Villa in the summer it's an absolute fortune. So he'll want more funds if he was to go in there."
Bruce, who has been out of work since leaving Hull in July, is on the initial ten-name shortlist drawn up by Villa chief executive Keith Wyness and technical director Steve Round.
The pair have spent the week carrying out due diligence on targets as they look to whittle down the list, which also includes Burnley's Sean Dyche.
Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner and Brentford's Dean Smith are other potential candidates together with caretaker boss Steve Clarke, who could take charge of next Saturday's derby clash with Wolves.
