The last we heard of Ross McCormack was when he when he provided us with probably the funniest story of the football season.
As a reminder, Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce wasn't too happy when striker McCormack, who Villa had signed for £12 million from Fulham last summer, told him he wouldn't be able to make training. Bruce, fed up with the whole situation, decided to call out McCormack's on his bizarre excuse.
The Scot phoned Bruce to say he couldn't make it as the electric gates guarding his house wouldn't open. Bruce told him to hop the fence and get a taxi to training, but McCormack refused, saying that he would wait to fix the gates. Bruce, hilariously, got in his car and showed up to McCormack's house. Bruce then took a photo of the 4ft wall McCormack refused to jump to get to training.
In my opinion, he’s not fit enough to play unless his attitude and record of missing training improves.
If he keeps missing training like he does – then that will be the situation.
He has just not turned up. The latest excuse was that his gates had stuck but he couldn’t jump over a fence that was four feet six inches high.
There has been too much indiscipline at this club for way too long.
Not in 20 years of management have I gone down this road of publicly shaming a player but I have to make a stand because I won’t put up with it. Not on my watch.
McCormack, who refused to apologise, was quickly shipped off to Nottingham Forest on loan, where he hasn't done much and has been out injured since March.
Now though, Bruce is ready to give his 12 million man one more chance by putting him on a special summer fitness program. The fact that Villa's top scorer Jonathan Kodjia is set to miss six months with a broken ankle might explain this change of heart. The manager met with McCormack last week and spelled out what he expects of him.
Once again, Bruce is more than happy to go public with the details, and once again, doesn't exactly take it easy on the player.
There’s a few things in his personal life that I hope has got better and he can then focus on one thing: rebooting his career.
It’s been an awful 12 months for him which should have been the best 12 months of his career.
He got a big move here and the rest is up to Ross to really, really grasp the situation he’s been given here.
The first thing is to put him on some sort of fitness regime. He will be on a fitness programme to get himself into some sort of physical condition.
I think he knows himself that he can improve in that area. We’ve had a conversation and the rest is really up to Ross.
If he abides by the rules, which I’m sure he will do, and respects that then we’ll do everything in our power to get him up and running again.
If he does that and goes about his business the way it should be done then I’ll give him a chance.
We won't hold our breath.
Villa finished in a miserable 13th in the Championship yesterday, but will be expecting promotion next year for Bruce's first full year in charge. The team is already the most expensive in the division and they are likely to spend even more this summer, which will mean it's do or die for Bruce.
