Aston Villa Comment: A nice man, but the wrong man

Twice in the space of five months, the Welsh club have dealt the decisive blow to end the reign of a claret and blue boss...writes Matt Maher

Back in October, it was Tim Sherwood who paid the price after a 2-1 home defeat to the Swans. After a 1-0 defeat in south Wales, and a considerable amount of legal wrangling over the terms of his departure, Remi Garde has fallen to the same fate.

Interestingly, both men exited after suffering a sixth successive defeat but it is there the similarities end.

Sherwood's sacking was an attempt to divert the club away from disaster, while Garde goes having failed to prevent it.

The term "mutual consent" is often considered among football's most redundant phrases but here it could not be more appropriate.

After a near disastrous five months at the helm and with relegation almost a certainty, Garde was as keen to depart as the club were to let him.

He leaves as, statistically, the club's worst-ever manager but also armed with a lengthy list of mitigating factors.

A surprise choice to replace Sherwood, his appointment felt like a gamble at the time and it is one which failed to pay off. We will likely never know whether Garde is a good manager or not. The only certainty is that he was wholly unsuited to the situation he agreed to inherit.

A brief revival in January aside, the Frenchman never came remotely close to pulling Villa out of crisis and his, and the club's fate, was sealed when they failed to bring in a single player during the transfer window.

The impact on Garde and the scale of his disappointment should not be under-estimated. Desperate to bring in at least a couple of signings to freshen the squad and boost his own authority in an often tempestuous dressing room, Garde felt his position had been fatally undermined.

It is thought he told chief executive Tom Fox there and then that he would not survive the season. The past several weeks, in many respects, could be seen as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In one of his final interviews, Garde insisted he had no regrets over taking the job. Yet he must wonder whether things had been different had he arrived accompanied by his trusted Lyon lieutenants, Gerard Baticle and Bruno Genesio.

Whether their presence would have made any serious difference is a question which, like so many surrounding Garde's reign, will never be answered.

But agreeing to come without them was his first concession. Over the next five months, he would make many more.

In hindsight, his best result was the first, a 0-0 home draw with Manchester City in which the team looked organised and showed admirable fight. Two weeks later, they were beaten 4-0 at Everton, Jack Grealish was photographed enjoying a night out and Garde was left fighting the first of many fires.

Charming, polite and by his own admittance a little to honest, he was an easy man to like but often showed his inexperience, in one notable occasion drawing the wrath of Guus Hiddink after discussing his interest in Loic Remy.

That was nothing compared to last month when he appeared, publicly, to criticise the commitment of his players. It indicated a manager worn weary by the constant struggle to control a volatile dressing room. Results since have further borne that out.

No matter his admirable honesty, Garde's favour with the fans was never going to survive the kind of heavy blows the team was taking. Prior to the Swansea game, his demeanour changed dramatically. He looked a man already resigned to his fate.

Attention now turns to who will replace him, with former Leicester City boss Nigel Pearson among the early frontrunner. The 52-year-old ticks many boxes, has a proven track record in the Championship and is likely to be keen on the job.

There are understandable concerns, though, over his public bust-ups with players, journalists and even fans, not to mention the uneasy circumstances which led to him being sacked by the Foxes last summer.

For David Moyes, Villa might offer a chance of redemption after high-profile failures at Manchester United and Real Sociedad. Sean Dyche, meanwhile, would appear to combine success in the Championship with the team-building qualities required though tempting him away from Burnley, after what is likely to be a promotion back to the Premier League, could prove very tricky.

Steve Bruce has also been linked, though it is thought his Birmingham City connections may count against him.

Yet in truth his arrival would likely provoke nowhere near the same furore as Alex McLeish's did five years ago. Back then, supporters still expected the club to challenge for Europe. The outlook now is very different.

Whoever gets the job knows they are facing one of the biggest challenges in the English game but, with a new board in place, almost certainly with support to make changes as they see fit - a scenario of which their predecessor could have only dreamed.