Remi Garde needs to join the exodus at Aston Villa

Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked. Villa fans were intrigued about what the future could hold in November when Remi Garde was appointed, but 2 wins in 20 games later, it’s time to part ways. Villa are starting to go through manager’s like trains through Birmingham New Street. It’s certainly not the Villa way of old but the board desperately need to find a manager who can get quick results and then maintain some sort of momentum. Garde hasn’t come close. Even with the circus being constantly being pitched up at Bodymoor Heath, Garde should have done better, and he was appointed on the premise that he could have done.

Whilst holding himself with with dignity throughout, in what is one of the toughest jobs in club football, Garde must be disappointed with his progress at Villa. It’s become very clear in the past few months that the players are not playing for him, and motivation is definitely a problem. There seems to be a lack of a game plan, and Garde comes across as very risk averse. The same team is thrown to the slaughter every week. Even if the players lack quality, Garde is a football manager who should have motivated his squad, got them fitter than any other team and made them hard to beat. None of this has happened in five months.

Ironically, what Villa needed was a Tim Sherwood esque character. No nonsense, simple playing style and a motivator in the dressing room. Villa, yet again, just needed a short fix to get them out of trouble before re-assessing (again) in the summer. Villa were only 4 points adrift of safety when Sherwood left in November, and had a January transfer window to strengthen if results had improved by then.

It’s a shame that it hasn’t worked out with Garde. The fans were behind him for along time and were desperate to see why the Lyon fans love him so much. He will leave on good terms with Villa fans due to the overall situation, but his position is now untenable.

In a week that saw the Sporting Director Hendrik Almstadt and CEO Tom Fox both leave the club, its clear that the new look (and heavily experienced board) have seen enough of the current regime, and changing of the guard is imperative for Aston Villa to rise from the ashes.

It’s always the darkest before the dawn.