Lee Hendrie: Aston Villa seeing rewards of stable Steve Bruce

The former Blues and Hull boss has succeeded in halting the club’s slide since taking over in October 2016 and they are now pressing for a return to the Premier League.

At the time he was appointed, Bruce became Villa’s fifth permanent manager in the space of 20 months following a brutal period in the club’s history.

Former midfielder Hendrie said: “Look at how many managers the club had over the past four or five years and where it ended up.

“Look now how the club has developed and begun to gain some upward momentum under Steve.

“I think when he came into the job it was going to be a very, very tough job to take on.

“He had to get rid of players, bring players in and that doesn’t happen overnight. I think you are starting to see the rewards now.”

Villa, who visit Hull on Saturday, sit seven points out of the automatic promotion places with just eight games remaining.

But Hendrie added: “There’s still a fair few games to play and we’ve seen so many times it can turn around so quickly.

“Two or three defeats from the clubs above and two or three wins from Villa and they could be right back in the mix.”