Sheffield Wednesday boss Steve Bruce has revealed that he was told he had to sell Jack Grealish at the end of last season after he failed to win promotion with Aston Villa, report the Mirror.

Villa were beaten 1-0 by Fulham in the showpiece event and as a result looked set to welcome a host of financial problems unless key men were sold, with Grealish the top candidate.

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"After the play-offs, the club was in turmoil,” Bruce said.

“I was told we had to sell [Jack] Grealish, we had to sell this one and that one, basically to pay the wages.

“That’s how bad it was.”

He was sacked by Villa in October of this season after a run of poor results, to be replaced by Dean Smith with Bruce eventually becoming manager of Sheffield Wednesday in February.

Smith’s side are currently on a five match winning run, seeing off Derby, Birmingham City, Forest, Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers in the process.

This weekend sees them travel to Sheffield Wednesday in what will be a clash of the league’s most form teams.

The verdict

I do feel sorry for Bruce and think the way he was hounded out of Villa was rather shameful.

But he has more than landed on his feet with the Wednesday job and hopefully he will be given far more time and respect than he received previously.

This should be a brilliant match, however.