Remi Garde the right man to remedy Aston Villa's long-standing troubles

Jonathan Johnson reveals why new manager Remi Garde might be the perfect man to turn around fortunes at struggling Aston Villa.

As far as introductions go, Remi Garde’s welcome to the English Premier League as Aston Villa’s new manager on Monday was not exactly one to remember.

First of all, his new employers managed to spell his name wrong on an introductory tweet - using #WelcomeRemy instead of #WelcomeRemi - and then he watched his new team get soundly beaten 3-1 by Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.

If the 49-year-old Frenchman was unsure as to the size of the task awaiting him at Villa Park, he now has a very good idea of just how big a test his spell in Birmingham will be of his managerial credentials.

Garde will be a familiar name to most, although not all, Premier League supporters after his three-year spell with Arsenal between 1996-99.

Signed by Arsene Wenger on the same day Patrick Vieira moved to Highbury, the former Olympique Lyonnais and Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace man only went on to make 45 appearances over his three seasons in North London.

However, it was not as a neat and dependable backup player that Garde has carved out his growing reputation in football. Instead, it was his 11-year spell with Lyon, which culminated in three as manager, that have made him a sought-after name in the European game.

That rock bottom Villa have managed to lure Garde to Villa Park is a considerable coup.

The man from L'Arbresle in the Rhone is an intelligent appointment from the hierarchy of a club who have been continually making the wrong choice for some time now. Even if there is some risk in bringing in a manager who has never worked in England before, the potential upside for Villa easily outweighs any negatives.

Garde has already been dealt a blow after Villa failed to secure two members of Lyon’s current coaching staff, Gerald Baticle and Bruno Genesio, who were part of his team during his three-season stint at Stade Gerland.

Instead, the Frenchman will set about his unenviable task with the help of Reginald Ray, a similarly unheralded player who found his calling as Frederic Hantz’s assistant during a successful spell in charge of SC Bastia.

Should Garde do the seemingly unthinkable and keep Villa up, the topic of Baticle and Genesio will no doubt rear its head again. For now though, the former Lyon man is on his own after no favours from his former employers.

Garde is highly rated in France because of his achievements with OL, both as manager and head of the youth academy at the fabled Centre Tola Vologe.

In fact, it is not overstating his influence by saying that the current exciting squad boasted by Les Gones (featuring the likes of Nabil Fekir, Alexandre Lacazette, Corentin Tolisso, Samuel Umtiti and Anthony Lopes) was largely his creation.

The tactician raised the youngsters in the academy before bleeding them into the first-team at Stade Gerland.

However, more than a decade of hard work took its toll and he stepped aside in 2014, allowing Hubert Fournier to come in and reap the rewards of his hard work with last season’s impressive second placed finish in Ligue 1.

Lyon finished fourth, third and fifth in Le Championnat under Garde’s leadership and also won the Coupe de France in 2012.

It might not sound very impressive, considering that OL were the club who famously won seven straight French titles between 2002-08, but the Frenchman’s leadership of the team as the club were undergoing radical, cost-cutting changes, was impressive.

Another reason why Garde is so highly rated is his long-standing link with famous Arsenal manager Wenger.

The Gunners boss brought Garde in on the same day as Vieira and during his time at the club, the then midfielder acted as player-coach, helping the largely English squad understand their new manager’s methods.

Garde certainly learned a lot from Wenger when he was a player, with his preferred style of play similar to that preached by Arsenal’s long-serving tactician. The new Villa boss will likely try to introduce a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1 in his early days at Villa Park.

For some time now, Garde has been viewed in France and by some in England, as the man who will eventually succeed Wenger at the Emirates. If he is to make the Villans his audition for that job, then he will need to turn things around in record time in Birmingham.

Helping Garde will be the fact that this current Villa squad is brimming with young French talent ready to be turned into excellent players, much like the Lyon youth academy when he was made director in 2010.

Concerned Villa fans can expect their new boss to get the best out of the likes of summer signings Idrissa Gueye, Jordan Amavi, Jordan Ayew and Jordan Veretout, as well bright young gem Jack Grealish.

Long-term, Garde could turn out to be an inspired choice by the Villa hierarchy. However, time is not on the Frenchman’s side right now and he needs immediate results.

If he can produce the same reinvigorating impact that he had while at Lyon, albeit on a smaller scale, then that should be enough to steer the club clear of relegation. That objective alone appears to be a mammoth challenge though.

After a lengthy break from the game, Garde is refreshed and hungry for a new challenge. Following in his mentor’s footsteps by moving to the Premier League, he could be about to take another step closer to eventually taking over from Wenger as the league’s leading Frenchman.