Steve Bruce to remain as Aston Villa manager

The sound you hear is the death of a pre-written story of a new manager for Aston Villa.

The rumors were loud but in the end it came down to a face to face meeting between Steve Bruce and the new investors in the club.

Before this afternoon’s friendly with West Ham the Club released statement, “Aston Villa can confirm manager Steve Bruce has met majority owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens and will continue as manager with their full support.”

Short. Simple. Clear. And it even came with a picture!

Bruce will have his chance to continue pre-season and get the squad ready for Hull in a couple of weeks.

This choice will divide supporters — and it is likely that no one will ever know for sure how close Thierry Henry came to taking over. It is the safe choice of keeping the man who is aware of the club’s situation. Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa was very close to earning promotion and a lucky bounce in the final could have changed all of that.

On the other side there were the well-known disasters where Villa failed to show up. Squad rotation seemed like a foreign concept at times. And some of the blame for the financial crunch has to be placed at the feet of Steve Bruce.

That said — it is great news that the club made a firm decision now rather than letting it drag out even closer to the season. Now we see if Steve Bruce can get the team ready for another promotion push.