Comment: Sticking with Steve Bruce a common sense move all too rare at Aston Villa

Yet the first, decisive act by Villa’s new decision-makers did enough to provide optimism they may well be the men to cure the club’s long-standing gambling addiction.

The decision to stick with Steve Bruce was not universally popular, though one suspects that behind the heightened Twitter outrage, the majority of supporters understand the call.

Essentially, this was the kind of common sense thinking all too rare at a club which has, in recent years, taken risk after risk with players, managers and finance – and paid a hefty price.

Thierry Henry might well turn out to be a brilliant manager. But bringing him into Villa in their current situation, less than two weeks before the start of the season, would have been another huge roll of the dice. The off-field chaos of the last two months, when Villa came so perilously close to disaster, made it imperative the club retained some sense of stability.

Bruce, a skilled man-manager, is hugely popular with the players. Had he gone, it would have meant the club’s entire football department had been cleared out in the space of a few weeks. Villa would have been left starting from scratch with the season just days away.

The last thing the club needed was another “statement” and Sawiris and Edens, whose heavily-scripted introduction video on the club’s website was also refreshingly light on hyperbole, opted to play it safe.

Sticking with Bruce was not only sensible and pragmatic, it was the right option because the 57-year-old did not deserve to lose his job.

That is not to say his failure to deliver promotion last season is not a valid or hefty charge.

The bigger picture, however, shows a club which has come a considerable distance since he first walked through the door in October 2016.

All the fallout from the play-off final defeat at Wembley should not hide the fact last season was easily Villa’s most entertaining for a decade. The reconnection between fans and team, lost in the madness of the final Lerner years, can be further seen in record season ticket renewals, a statistic which, incidentally, is difficult to square with complaints about the manager’s style of play.

Another advantage of keeping Bruce is that he is entering the season with his eyes wide open to the club’s difficulties.

The arrival Sawiris and Edens might have killed off the very real threat of Villa entering administration, yet there is still much which needs sorting out, most notably complying with Financial Fair Play.

That is an issue the club simply cannot ignore and the chief reason Jack Grealish remains almost certain to depart before the transfer window closes on August 9.

In addition to losing his talisman, Bruce is also now without the likes of John Terry, Robert Snodgrass and Sam Johnstone, players who had a big impact both on and off the field.

The ingredients of a decent team still remain, though the manager will need to use his contacts book extensively in order to get Villa into shape. A strong start to the season is important, or his position could quickly come under scrutiny again.

Despite everything, the target will still be promotion. Bruce has admitted managing Villa may well be the toughest challenge of his career. The next couple of weeks may well prove to be the most testing and pivotal of the lot.