Aston Villa have parted company with Dean Smith after suffering an extremely poor start to the Premier League season. With just 10 points from their first 11 games and five defeats in a row in the Premier League, the club announced on Sunday afternoon that they had parted with Smith after three years of service.
In what is Villa’s third consecutive Premier League season, Smith has made an awful start despite spending close to £100million on Danny Ings, Emiliano Buendia and Leon Bailey.
The club finished 17th on their return to the Premier League after a three-year hiatus in 2019-20, staying up by just one point ahead of Bournemouth.
The following season marked a huge upturn in form with Villa occupying the top-half for most of the season, before slipping to 11th in the dying embers.
The emergence of Ollie Watkins, Tyrone Mings, John McGinn and especially Jack Grealish made Villa a fashionable outfit, with many finding them fun to watch.
Yet their poor form this season after the sale of Grealish for a British-record transfer fee to Manchester City has left the Villains just 15th in the table, and only two points ahead of Burnley in the last relegation spot.
Villa beat Everton and Manchester United in back-to-back games earlier in the season to propel them into the top half of the table.
However, losses to Tottenham Hotspur, Wolves, Arsenal, West Ham and Southampton have left the board with no choice but to relieve Smith of his duties.
Villa announced the sacking of Smith at 1:30pm BST on Sunday afternoon.
“When Dean joined us in October 2018 our team was really struggling in The Championship,” a statement read.
“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 Board would like to sincerely thank Dean for his many excellent achievements, on and off the pitch, during this time.
“Everyone knows how much Aston Villa means to Dean and his family. He has represented the Club with distinction and dignity – universally liked and respected by everybody associated with Aston Villa – our staff, players and supporters alike. We wish him the very best.”
“The process of replacing Dean will now begin and the Club will update supporters in due course.”
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