Seeing Aston Villa sitting in fifth place in the Premier League is a far cry from years gone by. Fans have seen it all in recent times and now love the manager, so let’s take a look at the past five.
A great start to the season sees Unai Emery’s Villa side sit in a deserved position at the top end of the league.
Under the Spaniard’s management, the Villains have gone from strength to strength. Moving from 17th to 7th over a short period last season.
The idea of this was just a dream many years ago. With relegation, final defeats and survival battles, it has been a topsy-turvy ride.
With all that being said, let’s take a look at Villa’s last five managers and where they are now.
Steven Gerrard (2021-2022)
It is safe to say Gerrard is a popular figure in B6. A short tenure started well with a switch to attractive, passing and attacking-focused football. Optimism grew after a great summer window, seeing Diego Carlos and Boubakar Kamara join early on. It all fell apart however and he became heavily disliked for certain reasons. For example saying: “Chelsea should be coming to Villa Park and wiping the floor with us.”
He now finds himself in Saudi Arabia as Al Ettifaq manager, where he has brought players like Jordan Henderson along with him. Considering the hype surrounding him at Rangers, it has been a steep drop-off.
Dean Smith (2018-2021)
From a man disliked, to a man who couldn’t be more loved by the Villa faithful. Smith is the man who lived the dream and took the team he supports to glory. Three years saw Villa go from a midtable Championship to a secure Premier League outfit with him as manager. A true modern-day icon at Villa Park.
Following his sacking, he made a quick move to Norwich City where it didn’t go to plan and he was relegated. A late move to Leicester came last season where he again got relegated. For the current season, he finds himself unemployed.
Steve Bruce (2016-2018)
One loved manager, one disliked so far and Bruce sits somewhere in between. The way it ended with the former Blues boss wasn’t savoury but it wasn’t always like that. He took a floundering side of the back of multiple awful seasons and stabilised it. Despite maybe not being looked back on in the most fond manner, he is definitely worthy of some thanks from Villa fans.
He is another one who is currently unemployed. Following his Villa departure he managed Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United. He has been recently linked to Gillingham but nothing has been confirmed at the time of writing.
Roberto Di Matteo (2016)
The man who was tasked with starting the revolution under Dr Tony Xia. He came with plenty of pedigree after winning the Champions League and promotion with West Brom as manager. Even with plenty of top signings, he couldn’t get a tune out of the Villains and was sacked very quickly.
Despite his credentials, the Italian has never managed another club following his departure from Villa. He was appointed as a technical advisor for Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in South Korea as of January 2023.
Remi Garde (2015-2016)
From fans to players, nobody can look back at Garde’s time with the club with any fondness. Brought in as manager to a struggling side, divided by nationality, tasked to bring them all together. Despite a positive opening game, it never got better. Villa were relegated in humiliating circumstances with the Frenchman getting sacked before the season even finished.
Following his spell in the Midlands, he moved to MLS with Montreal Impact. After 67 games in Canada, he was sacked and hasn’t gone on to manage another club.
