We are barely a quarter of the way through the 2015-16 Premier League season and we have already seen three managers fired; Tim Sherwood joining Brendan Rodgers and Dic Advocaat.
Villa lost 2-1 at home to Swansea on Saturday and that was the final straw for Villa owner Randy Lerner who fired Sherwood after just eight months in charge.
“Aston Villa Football Club has parted company with manager Tim Sherwood today,” a statement on Villa’s website read. “The Board has monitored the performances closely all season and believes the results on the pitch were simply not good enough and that a change is imperative.
“However, the Club would like to place on record its sincere thanks to Tim for all his efforts during a difficult period last season and for the many positive contributions he has made to the entire football setup during his time with the Club. We wish him well in the future.”
“A search for a new manager has commenced and the squad will be managed in the interim by Kevin MacDonald,” the statement added.
That new manager is expected be be Remi Garde, who coached Lyon for three years from 2011 and was a front runner for the Newcastle job last season.
While Sherwood loses his job after Villa’s poor start to the season, one win out of ten, a lot of the blame has be directed at Lerner and Villa’s sporting director Hendrik Almstadt.
Sherwood had been openly critical of the club’s recruitment policy during the summer and had hinted that many of the 13 players brought in during the transfer window at a cost of £52.5m were not his choices.
This summer for example, Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley, who had been superb in a loan spell at Villa Park, decided to sign for Everton instead of making his move to the midlands permanent.
And when Liverpool then activated a £32.5m release clause in Benteke’s contract, and Manchester City did the same to take Delph for a bargain £8m, Sherwood had lost the spine of his team.
And their replacements have not been good enough, as the former Spurs manager alluded to after Saturday’s defeat saying:
“We can’t do any more as coaches and managers, we are working as hard as we possibly can, and the players can’t do more regarding effort.
‘They can only give us what they can give us”.
After flirting with relegation for the last three or four season, Villa look like a side heading to the Championship. Player recruitment has not been good enough and even if Randy Lerner throws money at new signings in January, there is no guarantee that Villa’s transfer committee will sign the type of players that will keep Villa up.
