Following a series of 5 straight Premier League losses, Aston Villa has fired manager Dean Smith. In a statement posted to the club website, the team cited a lack of progress as one of the main reasons they were parting ways with Smith.
CEO Christian Purslow said “When Dean joined us in October 2018 our team was really struggling in The Championship. He immediately transformed the atmosphere and performances and achieved the ultimate success of leading Villa back to the Premier League within the same season – a rare feat…He then secured our place in the Premier League after a tough campaign and took us to a Cup Final at Wembley…However, after a good start to last season, this year we have not seen the continuous improvement in results, performances and league position which we have all been looking for. For this reason we have decided to make a change now to allow time for a new head coach to make an impact.”
The move comes on the heels of the team’s 1-0 loss to Southampton on Friday. Aston Villa now sits in 16th place in the Premier League with a 3-7-1 record. Their 10pts are only 2pts clear of Burnley who sit in the final relegation spot in the table.
The team will now begin the search for a new manager with no preferred candidate currently leading the pack. Some media outlets have floated names such as Lucien Favre, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Paulo Fonseca as possible solutions.
Aston Villa is next in action on Saturday November 20th against Brighton.