Aston Villa have sacked Steven Gerrard as manager following a poor run of form.
Gerrard arrived at Villa Park in November 2021 following Dean Smith’s sacking and enjoyed a positive start with victories over Brighton and Crystal Palace, although results in the following months proved inconsistent as Villa collected just 38 points from 36 league games.
In Cup competitions, Gerrard led the Villains to a Third Round exit of last season’s FA Cup at Manchester United, whilst they had to come from behind to beat Bolton Wanderers in Second Round of this season’s EFL Cup.
During that time, Gerrard splashed the cash on high-profile signings including Lucas Digne, Philippe Coutinho and Diego Carlos, of whom haven’t made much impact given their experience with Carlos currently ruled out with a lengthy Achilles injury.
Results so far this season though have been poor with just nine points from 11 league matches, in which they have scored just seven goals – with only Wolves having scored fewer goals – and conceded 16 goals, including three goals in a 3-0 defeat at Fulham tonight (20 October).
That loss ultimately proved the final straw for Villa’s board who ruthlessly sacked the ex Liverpool legend just over a hour later, with a short brutal public statement which said: “We would like to thank Steven for his hard work and commitment and wish him well for the future.”
Gerrard consequently departs with 13 wins, eight draws and 19 defeats from 40 matches in charge of Villa in all competitions
Villa will now commence a recruitment process to appoint a new manager immediately with former Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal managers – Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Tuchel and Unai Emery respectively considered frontrunners for the job.
Gerrard’s coaching team consisting of; Gary McAllister, Neil Critchley, Tom Culshaw, Jordan Milsom and Scott Mason were dismissed with immediate effect, 11 hours following the manager’s departure.
First-Team Coach, Aaron Danks will take interim charge of Villa for their home match against Brentford in the Premier League, which kicks off at 2pm BST on Sunday 23 October 2022.
Villa CEO, Christian Purslow issued the following statement alongside announcement of the backroom staff : “The Board has come to this decision following a full evaluation of results and performances over the calendar year.
“We were clear when we appointed Steven that we set an objective of continuous improvement but that has not been achieved despite everybody’s best efforts and we believe the time is right to make these changes now.
“The process of appointing a new Head Coach is underway and we will update supporters as soon as possible.”
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