Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips: Aston Villa have no margin for error with Steve Bruce's replacement

It was just over eight years ago that he was first named caretaker manager, when Martin O’Neill left just days before the start of the 2010/11 season.

O’Neill was the last manager who enjoyed any long-term approval from supporters. Since then there have been a succession of appointments that have either turned sour or been unwanted from the beginning.

There can be no mistakes with the next appointment. Managers can only take so much of the blame for what has been happening in recent years. Villa are the common denominator in all their failures.

Bruce was the second former Birmingham manager to take the job this decade and, like Alex McLeish before him, it counted against him. There were other factors that led to Bruce’s downfall, but perceptions played a huge part. He was never quite able to shrug off the tag of a former Blues boss, despite getting the club within a whisker of promotion last season.

The margins can be fine. Would he have been sacked had Glenn Whelan’s late penalty not been saved on Tuesday night? Very unlikely.

Bruce could, quite legitimately, argue that this had been a solid start to the season – the team sit just two points outside the play-offs and are well-placed for a promotion challenge, with only two league defeats this season.

The madcap draw against Preston North End had everything, but the criticism levelled at the manager during and afterwards was unwarranted. Taking that match in isolation, Bruce could only be held to account for a certain amount of what unfolded.

When Villa took a deserved 2-0 lead it would have been reasonable to expect them to see out the game but some things are out of a manager’s control.

The sending-off of James Chester changed everything. The defender’s big error was letting Lukas Nmecha in goal-side for the initial run, what happened afterwards was interpreted by the referee as a deliberate foul when it should not have been. It did not merit a red card.

Sacrificing a forward in those circumstances was not unreasonable, but every decision Bruce made this season has been questioned. With an edgy crowd, and a man down, Villa’s players caved in under the pressure.

The equaliser came from a goalkeeping error yet even when they went behind Villa still found enough to get a draw, and would have won it but for Whelan’s last gasp miss.

Bruce lost the support of a significant proportion of the Villa fans long before Tuesday night, though. His position was undermined with the Thierry Henry speculation over the summer.

He worked through a summer of upheaval in the boardroom and kept his head down to prepare a squad for this season. Just two league defeats so far suggests they have a good base to go forward.

Promotion is not won in the opening two months of the season. Villa need to improve but they are well in touch, just seven points off top spot. That is not a significant gap in a 46-game Championship season.

Two points and three places behind Villa in the table lie Stoke City. But sacking manager Gary Rowett is nowhere near the agenda in the Stoke boardroom.

They are not quite changing managers at the rate The Fall replace band members, but Villa have worked their way through seven in the eight years since O’Neill left. That is far too many for a club of this stature and supposed ambition. Lopping off the head of a malfunctioning body every time has not been the right approach.

Only one of those managers has been dismissed by these current owners, of course, but if the new board are to learn from the mistakes made by their predecessors they cannot afford to get this next appointment wrong. Anything less than promotion will be a failure. So the new man has to work out a winning formula quickly.

But there are also appears to be an identity crisis developing. Supporters are hankering for something more and have complained at the style of football on offer for some time.

There is a reason Villa are in The Championship – these are Championship players. So what can be expected of them?

Wolves and Fulham did manage to combine style with success at this level but they were the exceptions. Most teams are promoted from this division with a pragmatic approach to winning games, as Cardiff showed last season. And as Newcastle, Brighton and Huddersfield did the year before.

If the hierarchy are looking to change the identity of the team and the way they play then there are better times to do that than in October. The revolution that occurred at Wolves came with a serious injection of transfer funds and a whole summer of preparation under head coach Nuno Espirito Santo.

Perusing the early favourites for the job is akin to playing a game of New Manager Bingo. Thierry Henry: marquee name. Tick. Sam Allardyce: experienced old hand. Tick. Paulo Fonseca: cosmopolitan overseas coach. Tick. Dean Smith: team plays nice football. Tick. Alan Pardew. HOUSE!

There is at least an international break upon us, so the opportunity to take stock is longer than it would normally be when a mid-season change is made.

Until the new man is found, it is MacDonald who needs to get the supporters back on side as he enters the Lions’ Den.