Express & Star

Just how bad has Remi Garde been at Villa?

Published
Last updated

It's official - Remi Garde leaves his position with Aston Villa as the shortest-serving and statistically the worst manager in the club's 142-year history.

The Frenchman left Villa Park by mutual consent last night after just 147 days at the helm, leaving the claret and blues bottom of the Premier League, writes Craig Birch.

His 10 per cent win ratio from 23 games in charge is not only the poorest of any non-caretaker Villa boss in the rebranded top-flight, but the worst ever.

The amount of matches he's had to turn things around is also shorter than any before him in B6, with immediate predecessor Tim Sherwood in second.

Sherwood presided over matters for 28 fixtures, registering a 35.71 win ratio in all competitions which included an FA Cup final against Arsenal at Wembley.

[breakout title="Aston Villa permanent manager win ratios in all competitions (newest first): -" align="right"]

Remi Garde 2015-2016 13.04 (23 games in charge)

Tim Sherwood 2015 35.71 (28 games in charge)

Paul Lambert 2012-2015 29.57 (115 games in charge)

Alex McLeish 2011-2012 21.43 (42 games in charge)

Gerard Houllier 2010-2011 35.90 (39 games in charge)

Martin O'Neill 2006-2010 42.11 (190 games in charge)

David O'Leary 2003-2006 35.88 (131 games in charge)

Graham Taylor 2002-2003 31.67 (60 games in charge)

John Gregory 1998-2002 43.16 (190 games in charge)

Brian Little 1994-1998 41.46 (164 games in charge)

Ron Atkinson 1991-1994 43.26 (178 games in charge)

Jozef Venglos 1990-1991 32.65 (49 games in charge)

Graham Taylor 1987-1990 45.77 (142 games in charge)

Billy McNeill 1986-1987 21.95 (41 games in charge)

Graham Turner 1984-1986 31.78 (107 games in charge)

Tony Barton 1982-1984 45.99 (137 games in charge)

Ron Saunders 1974-1982 45.57 (395 games in charge)

Vic Crowe 1970-1974 44.05 (227 games in charge)

Tommy Docherty 1968-1970 29.41 (51 games in charge)

Tommy Cummings 1967-1968 28.79 (66 games in charge)

Dick Taylor 1964-1967 35.62 (146 games in charge)

Joe Mercer 1958-1964 42.55 (282 games in charge)

Eric Houghton 1953-1958 35.20 (250 games in charge)

George Martin 1950-1953 39.50 (119 games in charge)

Alex Massie 1945-1950 40.21 (189 games in charge)

Jimmy Hogan 1936-1939 45.97 (124 games in charge)

Jimmy McMullan 1934-1935 30.91 (55 games in charge)

W J Smith (secretary) 1926-1934 48.08 (364 games in charge)

George Ramsay (secretary) 1884-1926 49.59 (1327 games in charge)[/breakout]

Garde finished on 13.04 with cup clashes counted, beating Alex McLeish's record of 21.43 from 42 games of a season of survival in 2011-12.

Billy McNeill, the last manager to take Villa down to English football's second tier in 1987, had 21.95 from a 41-game campaign before he stood down.

Villa, founder members of the Premier League, have been in the division since it was formed in 1992 and have only been relegated to the Second Division four times in their history.

There has been a lower-ebb than the one they are almost-certain to experience at the end of this season, though, when they were banished to the Third Division in 1970.

Doug Ellis - who sold Villa to current owner Randy Lerner in 2006 - will remember that, as he spend the turn of that decade trying to stop the rot as a young chairman not long in the job.

It took them two years just to get one promotion, under Vic Crowe, and it wasn't until 1975 that they got back to Division One. They've had just one season out of the top-flight in 41 years since.

Many are of the opinion that Garde was on a hiding to nothing, anyway, but few could foresee that it was going to be this bad. That said, not many saw Sherwood being axed in eight months.

It's also worth noting that Garde either didn't want to or wasn't permitted to make one single signing to bolster the squad. None of the under-performers were recruited on his watch.

Villa now embark on another pivotal period in their history, not to challenge for the game's major honours they once held but just to tread water again at the level they feel they belong.

Chairman Steve Hollis, the respected financial figures among him upstairs and the newly-created 'football board of directors' - with former Villa boss Brian Little among them - have their work cut out.

And what can we expect from Eric Black? He won't want to be permanently on board if all he feels the players are capable of is serving up a run of results than will have him remembered as worse than Garde.