Rémi Garde is on a mission to keep Aston Villa in the Premier League after finalising a deal to become the club’s fifth manager in five years.
The 49-year-old former Lyon coach has agreed a three-and-a-half-year contract and will take charge of his first game when Manchester City visit Villa Park on Sunday. “It’s an unbelievable honour to be the manager of such an illustrious football club,” said the former Arsenal midfielder who was capped six times by France and watched Villa lose to Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Monday night. “I’ve had extremely positive meetings with both the owner, Randy Lerner, and chief executive, Tom Fox. They have ambitious plans for the club and I’m excited they’ve turned to me to help realise them. Obviously we have a difficult task in front of us but I’m looking forward to the challenge with the support of everyone who loves Aston Villa.”
Villa’s hierarchy hope Garde’s coaching will bring the best out of the club’s contingent of young French players. His predecessor Tim Sherwood, had become cynical about the club’s new policy of signing youthful players from overseas with potentially high re-sale values but Garde’s CV suggests he is a good fit for this new model.
Lerner has clearly decided that his lack of experience in relegation battles will be offset by the reputation for stellar development of rookie players he earned during three largely successful years in charge at Lyon.
“We recruited aggressively in the past summer and it is our responsibility now to harvest this talent rather than buckle under pressure and criticism,” said Villa’s owner. “We are better than that. Rémi came with ideas, honesty, humour and a steely sense of what it will take for Aston Villa to be what it is meant to be - hard working, tireless, creative and unwilling to concede. Nobody at Villa can deny we are way behind.”
Kevin McDonald, Villa’s caretaker manager, said Garde will have been encouraged by the fighting spirit the side showed against Spurs despite suffering a seventh defeat in a row. “I think he’ll think he saw a team with a great work ethic through adversity,” said MacDonald. “We pushed on and had a right go in the second half, scored and gained a bit more confidence, and put an outstanding team under pressure. There are things for him to work with. There are some good technical players. I’m sure Rémi, with his experience from Arsenal and coaching at Lyon, will instil his thoughts and the technical ability on these players.
“I would imagine we will speak with him tomorrow. I will be in there at 7.30am or 8am. They will be back at 1.30ish. I’m sure he knows a lot about the players already, seen DVDs and phoned people. He’ll know a lot of the French lads who came in. I’ll give him my ideas and then it’s up to himself. He’ll be in charge on Sunday, that’s what I am told.
“Of course it’s a big task. When you’re bottom of the league, it’s hard. But he must have the confidence in his own ability, and the confidence in the players to want to take the job. He’s going to be the man to bring us out of relegation trouble.”
Asked if Garde’s lack of Premier League managerial experience was a concern, MacDonald was unequivocal: “He’ll be fine. Arsène Wenger didn’t when he came to Arsenal. Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t have English experience. They’ve not done too badly. If he’s half as good, he’ll have been very successful.”
Garde, who speaks excellent English and has been working as a match analyst for French television since leaving Lyon for “personal and family” reasons in 2014, was known at Lyon for choreographing attractive football, something which formed part of his appeal to Villa. “We are confident Rémi is the manager who can deliver the best from our current squad and set the club up for future success,” said Fox.
A title winner with Arsenal in 1998, Garde will find himself plunged straight into a relegation skirmish also featuring Newcastle United. A coach mentored by both Arsène Wenger and Gérard Houllier came close to succeeding Alan Pardew at St James’ Park earlier this year. Depending on who you believe it was a case of Newcastle ultimately deciding they would prefer to wait for Steve McClaren or Garde deciding the club and the city were not for him.
Whatever the truth, negotiations faltered after it became clear that Lyon were not willing to release Bruno Genesio and Gerald Baticle, his trusted coaches at the club where he won the French Cup in 2012. Garde had made it plain to Villa that he wanted them alongside him in the midlands but, once again, Lyon have been reluctant to part company with two key employees.
An announcement regarding Villa’s assistant manager is expected on Tuesday when the Bastia assistant coach, Reginald Ray, is likely to be named.
