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Game #5460

Aston Villa

Tuesday, 2 October 2018

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Drew

13th (+2)

Last 5: 🟨 🟩 🟥 🟨 🟨

Championship

Preston North End

Villa Park

Attendance: 27,331

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

Aston Villa

3-3

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Preston North End

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Assist(s) | Ahmed Elmohamady | 26’ | John McGinn | 37’ | Axel Tuanzebe | 90’+1 |

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

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MATCH TIMELINE

Tuesday, 2 October 2018

⚽ | 26’ Goal, 1-0, Jonathan Kodjia, Assist by Ahmed Elmohamady
⚽ | 37’ Goal, 2-0, Tammy Abraham, Assist by John McGinn
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 2-0 Preston North End
🟥 | 54’ Sending off, James Chester
🥅 | 56’ Goal, 2-1, (Preston North End, pen), Daniel Johnson
🔁 | 56’ Sub off, Tammy Abraham, Sub on, James Bree
🟨 | 71’ Booking, Jack Grealish
🔁 | 74’ Sub off, Jonathan Kodjia, Sub on, Yannick Bolasie
🟨 | 78’ Booking, John McGinn, Bad foul
🥅 | 79’ Goal, 2-2, (Preston North End), Paul Gallagher
🔁 | 83’ Sub off, Conor Hourihane, Sub on, Glenn Whelan
🥅 | 86’ Goal, 2-3, (Preston North End), Louis Moult
⚽ | 90’+1 Goal, 3-3, Yannick Bolasie, Assist by Axel Tuanzebe
💥 | 90+7’ Missed Penalty, Glenn Whelan
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 3-3 Preston North End

Match Statistics

Possession F | 43%
Possession A | 57%
Shots F | 12
Shots A | 19
Shots on Target F | 6
Shots on Target A | 7
Corners F | 4
Corners A | 4
Fouls F | 13
Fouls A | 13

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

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ON THIS DAY

Tuesday, 2 October 2018

  • Villa need an injury time goal for the fourth time this season to rescue a result but now have just one win in nine as madness descends at Villa Park and Steve Bruce departs.

  • Bruce had led Villa for 102 games, finished 13th and 4th in the EFL Championship table and been Championship Play Off Runners Up in 2017-18. 

  • Having 4 games earlier said “I’ve always wanted to play two up top and for some reason here, it hasn’t really happened. We’ve got the personnel to do it, you’ve seen that tonight, those two [Abraham and Kodjia] will be a threat for anybody.” Steve Bruce elected to take both his centre forwards off by the 74’ with Villa leading 2-1. 

  • Preston soon capitalised and within 12 minutes had opened up a 3-2 lead. With both his penalty takers off the field it was left to Glenn Whelan to take the 97’ spot kick awarded for a foul on Birkir Bjarnason. Whelan (73 appearances, 2 goals) missed. 

  • James Chester is sent off on his 107th appearance to make it W45 D32 L30, 7 Goals, 1 Assist, 13 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

  • Birkir Bjarnason makes his 25th start in a Villa shirt (43 Appearances) to make it W23 D8 L12, 6 Goals, 3 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

  • Goalkeeper Mark Bunn makes his 21st and final appearance for Villa (20 Starts) aged 33 before being released by the club in July 2019. On his return to the side for the first time in six months Bunn conceded 3 goals in a game with regular ‘keeper Ørjan Nyland on the bench. Nyland had conceded 14 goals in 13 games so far this season at a rate of 1.08 goals per game. It was these sort of decisions and the self absorbing commentary from him that ultimately cost Steve Bruce his job. Bunn left the club with a record of W5 D7 L9, 36 Goals Conceded, 5 Clean Sheets and 5 Bookings.

  • Jack Grealish collects his 20th booking in a Villa shirt on his 122nd Appearances (77 Starts) to make it W42 D27 L53, 9 Goals, 14 Assists, 20 Bookings and 2 Red Cards so far in his Villa career.

  • Steve Bruce is sacked by Villa following the Preston draw as his reign comes to a pitiful and humiliating end involving a red face and a cabbage. Bruce had steadied the ship after five years of rapid decline under Houllier, McLeish, Lambert, Sherwood, Garde and Di Matteo and would take Villa within 90 minutes of promotion in 2017-18 whilst navigating a financial crisis. Despite that, his time at Villa would fall apart in 2018 and he would leave with a decent second tier record of 102 Games W46 D25 L31 at a rate of 1.60 points per game.

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

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DEBUT APPEARANCES

None

FINAL APPEARANCES

🔴 GK Mark Bunn | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2015-19 🕒 21 | 20 (1) | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 0 | 🇺 114 | #883 |

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Aston Villa

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96

Preston North End

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European Cup / Champions League: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1937–38

Aston Villa

Preston North End

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FIXTURE HISTORY

Villa v

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Preston North End

Previous 5 vs. Preston: 🟩 🟥 🟨 🟩 🟨

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

FIXTURE DETAILS

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Season | 2018-19
Matchday | #13 |
League Game | #11 |
Manager Game | #102 |
Tuesday, 2 October 2018

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🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

MATCH SUMMARY

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Manager: Steve Bruce | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Northumberland, 2016-2018
Referee: Peter Bankes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Liverpool, 2014-
Kick off: 7.45pm
HT Score: 🟩 2-0
FT Score: 🟨 3-3
FT Result: 🟨 Drew
Last 5: 🟨 🟩 🟥 🟨 🟨

Scorers
Timeline
On This Day
Trophies
Matches
Fixture

MANAGERIAL RECORD

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Steve Bruce | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2016-2018

GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME

🕒 102 | 🟩 | 46 🟨 | 25 🟥 31 | 1.60

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:

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Steve Bruce | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2016-2018

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

MATCH OFFICIALS

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Referee: Peter Bankes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Liverpool, 2014-
Matches Officiated: 9
🟩 : 3
🟨 : 2
🟥 : 4
🆘 : 0
Previous 5: 🟩 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟥
Last Match: 🟥 7 Apr 18, Villa 1-3 Norwich (a)
Incidents: 🟥 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨
Assistants: Daniel Leach, Mark Pottage

ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:

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CARDS

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🟥 James Chester
🟨 Jack Grealish
🟨 John McGinn, Bad foul

🟨 Ben Davies
🟨 Ben Pearson
🟨 Lukas Nmecha
🟨 Daniel Johnson
🟨 Louis Moult

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

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TEAM NEWS

TEAM STATS

Steve Bruce recalled Mark Bunn in place of Ørjan Nyland for his first start of the season and first start since Sunday, 6 May 2018 which in itself was his only start of 2017-18. Indeed Mark Bunn's last run of games in the side had ended on Monday, 2 January 2017 - 21 months earlier.

Ahmed Elmohamady also returned to the starting line up with Mile Jedinak dropping out.

Scott Hogan returned to the squad having missed the start of the campaign due to injury.

Starting XI Average Age: | 27.68 |
Oldest Player: GK Mark Bunn | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 33.90 |
Youngest Player: CB Axel Tuanzebe | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 20.90 |

Referee
Manager

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

MANAGER

Steve Bruce | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 2016-2018

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Aston Villa

GK Mark Bunn | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Ahmed Elmohamady |
RB Alan Hutton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
CB James Chester | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | 🟥 |
CB Axel Tuanzebe | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Conor Hourihane | 🇮🇪 | 🔁 |
M John McGinn | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 🟨 |
M Birkir Bjarnason | 🇮🇸 |
M Jack Grealish | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
CF Tammy Abraham | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | 🔁 |
CF Jonathan Kodjia | 🇨🇮 | ⚽ | 🔁 |

MANAGER

Alex Neil | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

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Preston North End

GK Chris Maxwell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
LB Andrew Hughes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
CB Ben Davies | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
CB Paul Huntington | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Darnell Fisher | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
M Ben Pearson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
M Alan Browne | 🇮🇪 |
M Ryan Ledson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
W Thomas Barkhuizen | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
CF Callum Robinson (ex) | 🇮🇪 |
CF Lukas Nmecha | 🇩🇪 | 🟨 |

Line Ups

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

SUBSTITUTES

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🔁 RB James Bree | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for CF Tammy Abraham | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 56’ |
🔁 W Yannick Bolasie | 🇨🇩 | ⚽ | for CF Jonathan Kodjia | 🇨🇮 | 74’ |
🔁 M Glenn Whelan | 🇮🇪 | for M Conor Hourihane | 🇮🇪 | 83’ |

SUBSTITUTES

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🔁 | M Daniel Johnson (ex) | 🇯🇲 | ⚽ | 🟨 | for M Ryan Ledson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 46’ |
🔁 | M Paul Gallagher | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | ⚽ | for W Thomas Barkhuizen | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 77’ |
🔁 | CF Louis Moult | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | 🟨 | for RB Darnell Fisher | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 83’ |

Substitutes

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

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GK Ørjan Nyland | 🇳🇴 |
W Anwar El Ghazi | 🇳🇱 |
W Albert Adomah | 🇬🇭 |
F Scott Hogan | 🇮🇪 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

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GK Declan Rudd | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Josh Earl | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Tom Clarke | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Graham Burke (ex) | 🇮🇪 |

Player Positions:

GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half


M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward

Match Symbols:

⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution

🟨 | Booking

🟥 | Sending off

🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game

Squad Bios

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

SQUAD STATS

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1st XI Cost: £32.76m
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 7/11
Homegrown: 1/11
Subs Cost: £4.68m
Team Cost: £37.44m
Squad Cost: £60.84m
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 8/18
Homegrown: 1/18

SQUAD STATS

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1st XI Cost: £0.11m
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 8/11
Homegrown: 1/11
Subs Cost: £0.50m
Team Cost: £0.61m
Squad Cost: £1.89m
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 13/18
Homegrown: 2/18

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

MATCHDAY SQUAD

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GK Ørjan Nyland | 🇳🇴 | £2.70m |
GK Mark Bunn | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Free |

RB Alan Hutton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | £4.05m |
RB James Bree | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | £3.15m |
RB Ahmed Elmohamady | 🇪🇬 | £0.99m |

CB James Chester | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | £8.37m |
CB Axel Tuanzebe | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Loan |

M Conor Hourihane | 🇮🇪 | £3.15m |
M John McGinn | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | £2.79m |
M Birkir Bjarnason | 🇮🇸 | £1.80m |
M Glenn Whelan | 🇮🇪 | £1.53m |
M Jack Grealish | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Youth |

W Anwar El Ghazi | 🇳🇱 | £8.10m |
W Albert Adomah | 🇬🇭 | £3.15m |
W Yannick Bolasie | 🇨🇩 | Loan |

CF Jonathan Kodjia | 🇨🇮 | £11.61m |
F Scott Hogan | 🇮🇪 | £9.45m |
CF Tammy Abraham | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Loan |

MATCHDAY SQUAD

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GK Declan Rudd | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | £0.98m |
GK Chris Maxwell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | Free |

LB Josh Earl | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Youth |
LB Andrew Hughes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | Free |
RB Darnell Fisher | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Free |
RB Tom Clarke | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Free |

CB Ben Davies | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Youth |
CB Paul Huntington | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Free |

M Ben Pearson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | £0.11m |
M Daniel Johnson (ex) | 🇯🇲 | £0.06m |
M Alan Browne | 🇮🇪 | Free |
M Ryan Ledson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Free |
M Paul Gallagher | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | Free |

W Graham Burke (ex) | 🇮🇪 | £0.30m |
W Thomas Barkhuizen | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Free |

CF Louis Moult | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | £0.44m |
CF Callum Robinson (ex) | 🇮🇪 | Free |
CF Lukas Nmecha | 🇩🇪 | Loan |

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

UNAVAILABLE

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Injury | 1 |
CF Keinan Davis | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Out on Loan | 9 |
M Gary Gardner | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Small Heath
GK Jed Steer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Charlton
CB Easah Suliman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Emmen
RB Mitch Clark | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | Port Vale
M Aaron Tshibola | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Kilmarnock
W André Green | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Portsmouth
CB Tommy Elphick | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Hull
RB Ritchie De Laet | 🇧🇪 | Melbourne
CF Ross McCormack | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | Central Coast Mariners

UNAVAILABLE

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Not Recorded

Unavailable

LEAGUE TABLE

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MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

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Tables & Programmes

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

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MATCH QUOTES

*Villa boss Steve Bruce* “The guy who is being questioned…unfortunately, it sums up the society we are in at the moment. There’s no respect for anyone. “I find the whole thing hugely disrespectful. “The one thing I’ve always had is the determination to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in. I’ll always have a go.” --- *Former Villa striker Garry Thompson* “[Bruce’s] luck’s run out and it’s been heading that way for a while now. Last night Villa were 2-0 up, threw it away, clawed their way back into it and then missed a penalty, so it feels like a defeat now. “I just don’t know where he goes from here. I think he’ll probably get the Millwall game on Saturday before the international break but then decisions will be made. “He’s asking for time but he can’t really complain because he’s had everything he wanted. He wanted Robert Snodgrass last season, he got Snodgrass. He wanted experienced players and he got them in, and this season he’s got Yannick Bolasie and Tammy Abraham. “I’ve been listening to Steve and he sounds like a beaten man. When you ask for things and you get them then you have to win games. And if you don’t win games people are going to be on at you. “The decision had to be made. This club has to get promoted. “There is a quality collection of players who just need a bit of coaching and a bit of guiding, and then they will score goals. “Do I have sympathy for Steve Bruce? Yes and no. I have sympathy for him as a bloke. He went through a lot last year. But they did gamble on going up.” --- *Ex-Villa defender Stephen Warnock* “There was so much turmoil in the summer about what was going on with the tax situation - yes, the new owners have come in but they came in very late, we don’t know how much they are willing to throw into the club. “It was a very tough job for Steve because he was given all the funds late and trying to get players in on loan deals. I feel for Steve in that way and I feel for the club. “I feel the club is in a sticky patch at the moment and they need a little bit of leadership off the pitch as well as on it. “I would like to see Dean Smith given a crack at it, when you look at the job he’s done at Brentford. “He is a Villa fan I believe and the style of football he’s playing with limited resources is an exceptional job. “I’d like to see someone there for the long term and possibly he could be that man.” --- *A West Midlands police spokesperson* “A cabbage was thrown at the dugout from the stand. We are working with the club to identify the person.”
Quotes

🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

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MATCH REPORTS

Opens in New Window

*BBC Sport*
Tuesday, 2 October 2018

*A supporter threw a cabbage at under-pressure Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce before his side’s dramatic draw with Preston, in which Glenn Whelan missed a 97th-minute penalty.* Bruce said victory would not have made up for the abuse he was subjected to by sections of the crowd and it was “for others to decide what happens now”. Whelan was denied from the spot after fellow substitute Yannick Bolasie had scored a late equaliser for Villa, who had earlier blown a 2-0 lead against the Championship’s bottom club. Villa were coasting after first-half goals from Jonathan Kodjia and Tammy Abraham before James Chester’s 54th-minute red card transformed the game. Former Villa man Daniel Johnson sent keeper Mark Bunn the wrong way from the spot, then Paul Gallagher’s low right-foot free-kick curled round the wall to level on 79 minutes. From Gallagher’s right-wing corner, Louis Moult headed North End in front, but on-loan Everton man Bolasie kept his head in the box to earn Villa a point. On a night when Villa would have climbed seven places if they had won, it could have been all three points when Johnson felled Birkir Bjarnason in the box but, with the game going into the 97th minute, Preston keeper Chris Maxwell dived low to his left to save Whelan’s effort. Bruce said that he felt all the decisions he has made this season had been “questioned” by fans and that what he had “witnessed in the stadium was not right”. “The guy who is being questioned…unfortunately, it sums up the society we are in at the moment. There’s no respect for anyone,” the 57-year-old said. “I find the whole thing hugely disrespectful.” He added: “The one thing I’ve always had is the determination to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in. I’ll always have a go.” Villa are 12th in the table having won only one of their last nine league games, while Alex Neil’s North End stay bottom. Bruce still out of luck and under fire Bruce had pleaded for time in the wake of some indifferent results in recent weeks. He insisted that the nucleus of his team is fine and that patience is needed in the boardroom and on the terraces while his summer additions - signed late in the August window following the club’s takeover - settle into their new surroundings. Despite the subdued pre-match mood Villa went ahead when Ahmed Elmohamady curled in a looping, angled right-foot cross from the right - and Kodjia climbed highest to power home a header. Abraham then powered his way in from the left touchline to double Villa’s lead when he slipped the ball through Maxwell at his near post. Chester’s sending off for felling Lukas Nmecha when through on goal gave the struggling visitors a way back into the game as Johnson stroked home the resulting penalty. Paul Huntington twice headed over, Alan Browne drilled wide and Nmecha struck the post as the home mood suddenly turned ugly. Bunn saved from Johnson but he was then caught out 11 minutes from time when Gallagher - who had just come on - bent in a low free-kick to equalise, and worse was to come when Moult headed with four minutes left. That triggered chants of “We want Bruce out” from the home fans on the Holte End - but Villa showed that they still had some fight left in them. But, after Bolasie levelled from close range, and Johnson inexplicably fouled Bjarnason, Whelan fluffed the chance to score only his second goal in seven years as Maxwell went to his left to parry the Irishman’s poorly-struck penalty. --- *BBC Sport* Wednesday, 3 October 2018 Steve Bruce: Aston Villa sack manager after one win in nine league games *Aston Villa have sacked manager Steve Bruce after winning only one of their past nine Championship matches.* Villa are 12th in the table and drew 3-3 with bottom club Preston on Tuesday. The 57-year-old, who was appointed two years ago, had been under increasing pressure from Villa supporters, with one fan throwing a cabbage at him before Tuesday’s game. He led the club to the Championship play-off final last season, which they lost to Fulham at Wembley. Bruce, who leaves Villa exactly two years to the day since his predecessor Roberto Di Matteo was sacked, is the first manager to lose his job in England’s second tier this season. Assistant boss Colin Calderwood and coaches Steve Agnew, Stephen Clemence and Gary Walsh have also left Villa Park, with under-23s manager Kevin MacDonald taking caretaker charge of the club for the third time for Saturday’s game at Millwall. “We would like to place on record our gratitude to Steve and his team for their hard work and commitment. We wish them well for the future,” a club statement said. “The process of recruiting a new manager has begun.” Turmoil continues at Villa Park Bruce’s position had been uncertain since a summer during which off-field events shaped Villa’s pre-season preparations, after the club initially missed a £4m tax payment in June. After failing to secure a return to the top flight in May that would have been worth in excess of £160m, owner Dr Tony Xia was understood to have cash flow problems. Former England captain John Terry left Villa Park, while chief executive Keith Wyness was suspended and then subsequently exited the club, before director of football Steve Round’s departure in July. Billionaire businessmen Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris stepped in with “significant investment” and, following reports that ex-France striker Thierry Henry was being lined up for the managerial position, they gave Bruce their public backing.
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🟨 2 October 2018, Villa 3-3 Preston, Villa Park.

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