Steve Bruce desperate to ease the pain at Aston Villa after below-par campaign

The manager arrived for his final pre-match press conference of the campaign sporting several stitches, having undergone a procedure to remove two moles from his face earlier in the week.

Yet any light-hearted humour at his appearance was soon superseded by a simmering discontent, at a season which will deliver both Villa’s lowest finish for more than 40 years and the poorest of Bruce’s own managerial career.

It doesn’t matter to Bruce that he inherited a team at the wrong end of the table back in October. Back then, the 56-year-old’s aspirations sat some way above the mere mid-table finish which he has branded “not good enough”.

By the same token, Bruce knows his admirable honesty will quickly wear thin with supporters should Villa not be challenging at the top end of the Championship from the off next term.

No-one – including, Bruce claims, owner Tony Xia – is under any doubt as ti the challenge ahead.

“I don’t think he (Xia) is under any illusion,” said Bruce. “If he watched us last week (at Blackburn) it would not have taken him long to realise it needed a big, vast improvement all over.

“Not just from the players on the pitch but me, the staff, all of us. We all need to improve because what we saw at Blackburn last Saturday (when Villa lost 1-0) has happened too often.

“We are 12th and it is not good enough for a club like ours. I think the players know that.”

Central to Bruce’s message is the need for players to better handle the pressure placed on their shoulders at a club which, rightly, demands to be challenging in the Premier League, let alone the Championship. The manager includes in that number several of his own January signings, who he admits are still getting to grips with the increased expectations. Come August, there will be no more excuses.

“Even the ones who came in last summer are still coming to terms with it,” said Bruce. “I don’t think they quite realise what it is. We have to take those shackles off because if we don’t, we are not going to improve.

“Certain individuals have done OK. But as a team and as a group we are nowhere near. To be where we want to be, we are nowhere near. We have to improve, it is as simple as that.

“The players we brought in (January) have only been here two or three months. They have to come in next summer and hit the ground running, or they become a statistic, like everyone else. They have to aspire to being a big player for Aston Villa.”

Bruce will be without Mile Jedinak (groin), Alan Hutton (ribs) and Gabriel Agbonlahor for tomorrow’s game, with Brighton needing to better Newcastle’s result to clinch the title.