Aston Villa will turn to Steve Bruce if they are unable to persuade David Wagner, the Huddersfield manager, that he should give up the team he has taken to the top of the Championship to try to rescue one of England’s bigger, and more troubled, clubs.

Villa are exploring whether there is any chance of tempting Wagner away from Huddersfield in the wake of Roberto Di Matteo’s sacking, with the Midlands club 19th in England’s second tier and potentially facing the ignominy of a relegation fight in their first season outside the top flight since 1988.

Wagner, previously part of Jürgen Klopp’s staff as the manager of Borussia Dortmund’s second team, has impressed Villa after giving Huddersfield realistic ambitions of returning to the top division for the first time since 1972.

However, it would not be straightforward to convince him he should leave the Yorkshire club, or persuading his employers to let it happen, and on that basis Villa are giving serious consideration to offering Bruce a way back into management.

Bruce has been out of work since leaving Hull City in the summer and, despite being interviewed for the England manager’s job before Sam Allardyce’s appointment, the Football Association has not gone back to him now it has become free again.

The position at Villa is complicated by the fact Bruce managed Birmingham City from 2001 to 2007 but, nine years on, that is not thought to be an insurmountable problem and the 55-year-old is keen to return to work. If that were to happen, one of his first games would be back at St Andrews, with the two clubs meeting on 30 October.

Ryan Giggs, overlooked for the Swansea City manager’s job, is not thought to be a contender and Villa are hoping to fill the position quickly, with the club’s owner, Tony Xia, timing Di Matteo’s sacking so the international break can be used for the interview process.

Di Matteo had only 11 league matches in charge but the man who led Chelsea to the Champions League title saw his team take only 10 points in that time, and sections of the club’s travelling support called for his removal during the 2-0 defeat at Preston on Saturday.

Villa are two points off the relegation places, their only win coming against the bottom club, Rotherham, and their chances of returning to the Premier League look slim in the extreme unless there is a remarkable turnaround over the next seven months.

The chief executive, Keith Wyness, has been placed in charge of finding the new manager with the club’s new technical director, Steve Round. In the meantime the assistant manager, Steve Clarke, will take training at a club searching for their fifth manager in 20 months.

Villa were relegated from the Premier League last season with 17 points from 38 games and, since Paul Lambert’s sacking in February 2015, Tim Sherwood, Rémi Garde and Di Matteo have each lasted 175 days on average.