Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce says he looks upon his time at Aston Villa fondly.

Bruce faces his old club later today.

Bruce, who joined Villa in October 2016, reflected on his time there saying: “As a club that had won four times out of 54, so the culture there, even for a big, huge club like it was, it had slipped a long way down.

“We got to the play-offs on loans and frees and nearly did it.

“They're having a tough time at the minute but people talk about tough times – Aston Villa was right up there.

“I had a couple of good years there. You would like to get longer, unfortunately it didn't happen."