On Thursday, Aston Villa announced the signing of manager, Steven Gerrard, from Scottish side Rangers FC. This move comes after Villa sacked their previous manager, Dean Smith, over the weekend.
Villa arrived at the decision of relieving Smith of his duties as manager after the team lost 1-0 to Southampton on Saturday. While the club is in poor form after failing to win a game in their last 5 matches. As an immediate response, the club chose Gerrard to be Smith’s successor.
Meanwhile, the former Liverpool legend has left Rangers after a spell of 3 and a half years, which was his first senior managerial position. The Englishman has reportedly signed a contract keeping him at Villa Park till summer 2024.
Steven Gerrard and his Premier League experience could boost Villa hopes
The Lions at present, are struggling to find any form as the club currently sits 16th in the Premier League with 10 points, two points above the relegation zone. Dean Smith took over the club in 2018 and since then he had played a crucial role as the team’s manager. In 138 matches, the English manager recorded 56 wins with the club.
Under his management, Aston Villa was promoted to the Premier League in 2019. As the 2019/20 season concluded, the club managed to stay in the League, finishing just 1 point above the relegation zone. While in the following season, Villa took on the big teams and managed to finish 11th.
What gave the team their biggest setback this season was the departure of their main man Jack Grealish. The club lost their star to Manchester City after they triggered his £100m release clause. However, the board believed that they could fill the void left by Grealish with 3 players Danny Ings, Emiliano Buendia, and Leon Bailey, but the players have failed to deliver anything yet.
Can Gerrard handle the Premier League pressure?
Being a Scottish Premiership winner in the 2020/21 season, the English manager clenched the title by ending Celtic’s nine-year dominance in the league. While his team pulled off the feat by going unbeaten in the whole competition.
It is believed that the Claret and Blue’s board have full faith in the manager, believing that his experience as a Liverpool player could help the team cope up with the increasing pressure. Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow had to say the following things about Gerrard:
“It has been very clear in our discussions with him that Steven’s coaching ambitions, philosophy and values entirely match those of Aston Villa. We are excited he has agreed to lead us in the next phase of our ambitious plans as we look to build on the progress made since Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens took over the club in 2018.”
Now that the Hall of Fame inductee has taken over, he will manage his first game against Brighton. Meanwhile, the football fans are eagerly waiting for the Villa-Liverpool fixture on 11th December, where the manager will be warmly welcomed at Anfield.
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