Comment: Disgraceful cabbage-chucking a symptom of the fractured relationship between fans and Steve Bruce at Aston Villa

The simple answer to that question, asked time and time again in the aftermath of Villa’s barmy 3-3 draw with Preston on Tuesday night, is that you can’t.

Only the idiotic culprit can know why they decided to demonstrate their frustration at Steve Bruce in such a manner.

As far as protests at football matches go, theirs must immediately be ranked among the most bizarre ever.

It was deemed unusual enough to make the back pages of national newspapers, on a night when such space would typically be reserved for the exploits of English clubs in the Champions League.

Therein lies the serious issue for Villa – that on a national level, they as a club once again risk being portrayed as a laughing stock.

The fan concerned, once identified, can expect a lifetime ban from the ground. Needless to say, there wouldn’t have been room for any humour had they hit their intended target.

No person, no football manager, deserves that. Not least Bruce, who has made a better fist than most of managing a club which in recent years has become a poisoned chalice.

But the cabbage-throwing, while disgraceful in every respect, was also a symbol of the growing animosity between Bruce and the club’s supporters and a relationship which may now be broken beyond repair.

The dissenting voices, which could once be disregarded as a minority on social media, have steadily grown in number. Instead it was a majority who voiced their displeasure on Tuesday as Villa collapsed from leading 2-0 to trail 3-2 with just minutes remaining.

Not even Yannick Bolasie’s late leveller could paper over the cracks, though there is an argument Glenn Whelan’s last-gasp penalty miss actually made things worse.

Bruce afterwards voiced his frustration at the fan anger and the speed with which his position has come under scrutiny.

But this is not a situation which has developed overnight. It has been bubbling from the moment Bruce failed, albeit narrowly, in his task of getting Villa promoted last season.

From the moment the final whistle blew at Wembley back on May 26, condemning Villa to defeat in the play-off final, there were supporters who felt it was time for change.

With new owners on board, Bruce knew he needed a strong start to the current campaign. He has simply failed to achieve it.

True, a summer of chaos off the field didn’t help. But it is also true that the manager has failed to get the required results from a squad which, though it has some deficiencies, remains among the Championship’s most talented.

Villa have just one win in nine and have taken only nine points in that period. The 4-1 defeat at Sheffield United, where fans first sang for the manager to go, was right up there with the club’s worst performances of the past decade and there is no shortage of competition on that front.

Though the table might show Villa just two points off the top six, memories of last season, when a slow start ultimately saw Bruce’s men miss out on automatic promotion, are also at the forefront of fans’ minds.

All of this has added up to explosion of toxicity at Villa Park on Tuesday night, when Lewis Moult headed the visitors in front.

Bruce’s biggest achievement had been to restore a sense of pride and spirit in a club which was in freefall, with just five wins in the previous 51 games, when he first walked through the door nearly two years ago.

The worry now is the longer the current situation continues, the more that good work is being eroded. Villa are in danger of being left back where they began.

What new owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens are thinking, or indeed chief executive Christian Purslow, is hard to determine. Their silence is deafening.

It is reasonable to assume they will be concerned by what they are seeing. Tuesday night spoke for itself.

For Bruce, it is going to require something quite remarkable to salvage the situation from here.