Steve Bruce hits out at critics as Aston Villa prepare to face Norwich

Steve Bruce is under increasing pressure but in combative mood after launching a withering attack on the “vile” trolls demanding his sacking at Aston Villa.

Six weeks after the euphoria generated by the signing of former Chelsea captain John Terry, Bruce is running out of time to ensure he completes a year in charge of the Championship club.

We may only be three league games into the season but Bruce is yet to win and the atmosphere is threatening to turn even more toxic if Norwich extend that run at Villa Park on Saturday.

The stench of underachievement continues to overpower at the former European Cup winners and the question is how long ambitious owner Dr Tony Xia will stand for it, or if he can afford to dismiss Bruce with Financial Fair Play continuing to gnaw away. 

Villa's board remain behind Bruce, who has achieved promotion to the Premier League four times, and there is reluctance to make a kneejerk decision so early into the season.

But ahead of this weekend’s potentially pivotal home game, Bruce has come out fighting and pleaded for calm as he bids to ride the storm.

“With all the doom and gloom and the negativity, it engulfs us very quickly. It is not like we have had a bad six months, we’ve had a bad week [with defeats at Cardiff and Reading],” he said.

“There has been a lot of nonsense but you remember them. You think well, I will remember what they said a few weeks ago and hopefully shove it down their throats.

“The frustration for me is that social media now is vile. Thankfully I don’t read it, but I hear snippets. It borders on ridiculous but I suppose that is the society we live in.

“The big thing when I took the job was that there needed to be stability, continuity and common sense. 

"Right now we need all of those things, otherwise the club lurches into turmoil once again and there’s more change. 

"Change becomes expensive and ridiculous if you use it too often. It’s had that over the last five or six years and it doesn’t work.”

The problem for Bruce, and Villa, is that there have been too many bad weeks in recent times.

For an increasing number of fans, they see deeper problems than just a winless start to the season and fear Bruce will be unable to halt the cycle of failure.

Expensive signings have struggled with the expectation, wilting in front of the huge Holte End, and financial restrictions have prevented Bruce from making more sweeping changes.

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The signing of Terry does feel like a turning point. Villa have been badly deprived of leadership and experience for years and his decision to leave Chelsea after two decades was largely down to Bruce.

Terry will be crucial in the coming weeks, as will Mile Jedinak, the Australian international who has proved so influential that Villa are yet to win a game without him since he joined last summer.

“I am determined we will get it right,” said Bruce. “Eventually, given time, I know for a fact we will get there.

“I’ve been at the top end of the Championship with every club I’ve been at. It’s whether you’re given that time.

“I’ve had to balance the books and I’m trying to clean up the mess. We are all hurting. If you have got something about you, we are all disappointed, but one win can change everything.”