Aston Villa, the English Championship soccer club acquired by Chinese entrepreneur Tony Xia earlier this year, named former Manchester United skipper Steve Bruce as manager to replace the sacked Italian Roberto di Matteo.

Di Matteo was sacked after only 124 days in the job, with the team winning only one of 11 league games since he was appointed.

Villa, who were relegated from the lucrative Premiership last season, currently lie 19th in the league.

Xia, who bought the club in June this year, has pledged to get them back in the Premiership.

Bruce, 55, was manager at Birmingham for six years and more recently spent four seasons at Hull City, taking them into the Premiership at the end of the 2015-2016 season.

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