Former Aston Villa striker Lee Hendrie has been giving his verdict on what has driven Aston Villa to within a whisker of the automatic promotion places this campaign.

The 40-year old was once the 'bright young thing' at Villa Park, earning an England call up and seemingly destined for great things.

His career didn't pan out how he might have hoped, but he's still very much an Aston Villa fan.

He's certain that much of their current good form is due to retaining the services of Steve Bruce, allowing him to build a legacy.

“Look at how many managers the club had over the past four or five years and where it ended up," Hendrie told the Express and Star.

"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.”

Aston Villa are Bruce's ninth club as manager in a career spanning 20 years. He started out as Sheffield United manager after joining them when his illustrious playing career wound down. Bruce took over from Roberto Di Matteo, who was dismissed in October 2016. Hendrie believes that automatic promotion is still possible, despite the Villans being seven points behind second-placed Cardiff City.

“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.”

The Verdict

Hendrie is right, manager stability is one of the contributing factors in a club's success.

Look at Birmingham as an example, they've swapped managers more often than I change my socks and where are they? The same could be said of Leeds United. When you also consider Bruce's experience in the game, it makes perfect sense to back him.

Villa are a Premier League-sized club and they'll want to be back there as soon as possible. That can only happen if they remain loyal to the manager and his vision.