Aston Villa boss Garde walks out on press
Remi Garde again refused to commit his future to Aston Villa beyond the summer as he admitted his future may also be out of his hands.
The Frenchman – who signed a deal until 2019 when he was appointed in November – insisted there was no rift in the dressing room before storming out of a press conference when pressed on the issue.
Bottom side Villa go to Manchester City today a full eight points from safety and look certain to be relegated from the Premier League.
Garde said: "I've got a contract with the club. I'm happy to be the manager of this club. I'm focused on the next 10 games because I came to this football club to try to avoid relegation. This is the main target.
"I'm not in a position where I decide what I want to do. I'm under contract with this football club and I will do what they ask me to do.
"Of course I'm committed for the next 10 games that we have to play. This is my role.
"The time will come where we have to discuss everything. I'm only concentrating on the next 10 games."
Garde also insisted skipper Micah Richards came and spoke to him after Tuesday's 3-1 defeat to Everton and assured him the players do not have issues with each other.
"I'm surprised this kind of stuff goes out because I strongly believe it is not the case simply because I had the captain of the team, Micah, in my office after the last game," he said.
"We had a private chat. I don't want to say exactly what was talked about but to sum it up it was the exact opposite of what you're saying.
"It's strange that it came out now. Four or five weeks ago nobody was talking about that.
"All of a sudden, when you lose a game in football everything is strange. To be fair, I don't know exactly what has been coming out or what people are reading or listening.
"But some of the stuff that has been reported is completely wrong. Once again this is football, when you lose games you have to deal with problems that don't even exist."
Villa have lost five of their last six games - conceding 11 in their last three matches, including a 6-0 defeat to Liverpool - and Garde conceded spirits are low.
"Enjoying is not the word when you're bottom of the league," he said. "Nobody enjoys it when you're bottom of the league. I'm not enjoying it."
Carlos Sanchez (hamstring), Jack Grealish and Libor Kozak (both ankle), Adama Traore (foot) and Jordan Amavi (knee) are all out.
