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Author Topic: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa  (Read 848157 times)

Offline brian green

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7065 on: November 09, 2017, 05:23:26 PM »
Agree.

Offline SoccerHQ

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7066 on: November 09, 2017, 08:58:15 PM »
Not only that but blocked by the CEO of one of our relegation opponents in her FA capacity.

That was scandalous. In a way I do get not signing anyone because the situation was so much worse when January rolled around to the position when he took over. But if that was given the green light to be fucked over because the woman supported Sunderland was disgraceful.

By all accounts he's been great for Gent to whom he moved after his move to us fell down.

Voted best goalkeeper in the Pro League on half a season's work.

Watched him v Spurs and he really struggled on crosses so think premier league would've been too much for him at that stage of his career.

Online Dave

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7067 on: November 09, 2017, 11:31:27 PM »
It's not like he would have been playing in it for long.

Offline tomd2103

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7068 on: November 10, 2017, 12:26:27 AM »
He was thrown in at the deep end and sank like a stone.  Wrong man at the wrong time, but might have stood a chance had he been appointed before the rot had well and truly set in.   

He would have made more sense following Houllier.

Agree.  If we could wind the clock back, him with Houllier as Director of Football might have been a better option than what followed when the latter's health failed.  Saying that, I can't think of many options that would have been worse than the one that followed after that. 

Online Clampy

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7069 on: November 10, 2017, 06:57:56 AM »
It was a while ago though. Was Garde in management at the time?

Offline Risso

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7070 on: November 10, 2017, 10:12:01 AM »
He was thrown in at the deep end and sank like a stone.  Wrong man at the wrong time, but might have stood a chance had he been appointed before the rot had well and truly set in.   

He would have made more sense following Houllier.

Agree.  If we could wind the clock back, him with Houllier as Director of Football might have been a better option than what followed when the latter's health failed.  Saying that, I can't think of many options that would have been worse than the one that followed after that. 

I've never understood the clamour for Houllier as a director of football.  His signings at Liverpool in his later years were mostly horrendous.  They weren't much better with us.

Offline passitsideways

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7071 on: November 10, 2017, 10:27:49 AM »
He was thrown in at the deep end and sank like a stone.  Wrong man at the wrong time, but might have stood a chance had he been appointed before the rot had well and truly set in.   

He would have made more sense following Houllier.

Agree.  If we could wind the clock back, him with Houllier as Director of Football might have been a better option than what followed when the latter's health failed.  Saying that, I can't think of many options that would have been worse than the one that followed after that. 

I've never understood the clamour for Houllier as a director of football.  His signings at Liverpool in his later years were mostly horrendous.  They weren't much better with us.

Walker and Bent were crucial for us in the second half of the season, Makoun did alright after signing for us before being turfed out through no fault of his own and before we could make any definitive assessment, while Pires and Bradley were essentially in for midfield cover. Not sure he would've been able to do much after Lerner cut costs, but that business looks mostly good to me.

Offline robleflaneur

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7072 on: June 30, 2018, 11:38:23 PM »
Khazri has looked pretty good for Tunisia and Pavard,highly rated by Hitzlsperger at Stuttgart,has been sensational for France.Pity the board didn't back Garde.

Offline SoccerHQ

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7073 on: July 01, 2018, 12:23:29 PM »
When were we linked to Pavard?

Offline Rudy Can't Fail

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7074 on: July 02, 2018, 12:25:45 AM »
Garde's only (closed) window.

Online itbrvilla

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7075 on: July 02, 2018, 06:34:45 AM »
Khazri has looked pretty good for Tunisia and Pavard,highly rated by Hitzlsperger at Stuttgart,has been sensational for France.Pity the board didn't back Garde.
They'd have become shit overnight of they came here, and would have been loaned out before being sold on the cheap.

Offline eamonn

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7076 on: April 10, 2021, 10:40:24 AM »
Garde was not even our first choice Frenchman at the time, according to The Athletic...


Quote

Chairman’s tears and a show of loyalty: How Villa missed out on Galtier and ended up with Garde


By Gregg Evans Apr 8, 2021 24

Aston Villa thought they had their man.

Christophe Galtier, who has taken Lille to the top of Ligue 1 this season, was earmarked as the perfect candidate and felt ready to commit to the new challenge in the Premier League.

Then, however, came the tears.

Saint-Etienne chairman Roland Romeyer couldn’t hold it together as Galtier, his previously long-serving manager, arranged a private meeting in October 2015, to explain that he was warming to the idea of taking over at Villa.

The French club were about to lose the man who saved the side from relegation in his first season and subsequently transformed them into a top-five outfit in the years thereafter.

But something unusual also happened on that day. Galtier reacted to the emotionally charged meeting with a show of loyalty that isn’t usually associated with modern football.

Touched by a passionate plea to stick around and complete what he had started, Galtier promised to see out the season, later saying: “After I spoke to Aston Villa, I was attracted to go to England, but it was impossible for me to leave. I did not want to leave the club (Saint-Etienne) in difficulty.”

Villa owner Randy Lerner and his close support team were devastated.

The decision to then appoint Remi Garde was costly as we all know what happened next. Villa were relegated with 17 points and that vintage will go down as one of the worst Premier League teams in history.

But what might have happened had Villa landed their top target? Five years on from Garde’s departure, we take a closer look at what could have been. This is the story of two Frenchmen, one flying high at the top of Ligue 1 and the other jobless, with little chance of ever getting a top role in England again.

It’s October 2015 and Villa are bottom of the Premier League with four points from 10 games.

Tim Sherwood’s energy is sapping and the bitter in-house disagreements have reached boiling point. All momentum from the Sherwood-inspired turnaround at the back end of 2014-15 has been lost and chief executive Tom Fox is barely on speaking terms with the man fronting up to the supporters after every defeat.

Relationships with sporting director Hendrik Almstadt and head of recruitment and scouting, Paddy Riley, are also strained.

Lerner, deeply concerned by the form and Sherwood’s inability to successfully pull together a group of new players, sacks the ex-Tottenham man on October 25, and so the managerial search begins.

On Villa’s list of potential new managers were a number of names. Lucien Favre had just resigned from Borussia Monchengladbach and was considered. David Moyes, reinventing himself at Real Sociedad back then, was also mentioned, but Galtier ticked all the boxes and was the man Villa wanted.

It was Riley who had compiled a detailed profile on Galtier. The recruitment chief put in the groundwork months in advance so Villa were in a position to act quickly if needed.

Through various trips to France, Riley had heavily scrutinised Galtier’s training ground methods as well as his record in the transfer window. Lerner and Fox liked the findings. What appealed most was his ability to get the best out of average or previously underperforming players.

Lille have benefited from that this season with the notable step up in performance from the likes of Renato Sanches and Jonathan Bamba. Jose Fonte has also rolled back the years while young defender Sven Botman has significantly increased in value too.

Another instantly likeable trait when Galtier became a target for Villa was how he wasn’t afraid to lean on others for support and turn his energy to getting the best out of players at his disposal.

He has been aided by the work of Luis Campos, director of football at Lille, and his ability to identify bargain buys and sell them on for considerably higher figures. Victor Osimhen moved to Napoli for £73 million and Nicolas Pepe joined Arsenal for £72 million. Rafael Leao (AC Milan, £32 million), Gabriel (Arsenal, £23 million) and Thiago Mendes (Lyon, £19 million) all left in recent years for a sizeable profit.

A figure with knowledge close to the club praised Galtier’s role in leading Lille to the top of the division.

“It’s incredible what he has done at Lille considering he loses his best players every year. He’s hard but fair with the players and the players respond well to his specific team talks.”

When Lille beat Paris Saint-Germain last week to go three points clear at the top of the division, his pre-match words were understood to be particularly rousing.

“He nailed it tactically and it was also inspiring,” says a figure close to the dressing room.

That’s the kind of impact Villa were hoping he would have in the West Midlands.

Back in 2015, Galtier had Saint-Etienne punching above their weight.

After keeping the club in the league when he arrived, he followed up with finishes of fifth, fourth and fifth between 2012 and 2015.

Newcastle United were also showing interest in the man who had a short stint in England alongside Alain Perrin at Portsmouth. Still, it was Villa who thought they were in a strong position to get their man.

Fox, it is understood, was particularly excited and discussed what it would be like at Villa with Galtier. Lerner even called from the US and hoped he would be the man to drag Villa off the bottom.

Galtier was close to agreeing but when he addressed his chairman and was met with the waterworks, that also set him off too. He then turned Villa down.

And so on Villa’s search went. The desire for a French speaker was not a necessity but certainly seen as an advantage.

Half of the starting XI could speak the language and had formed their own dressing room clique away from the other group of senior, British-born players. A French manager, it was felt, could help bring the best out of the new recruits and unite what was quickly becoming a fractured dressing room.

Fox, Arsenal’s former chief commercial officer, knew about Garde from his association with the London club. Arsene Wenger also gave a glowing reference of the man he had as a player, so Villa went ahead with the hiring.

Yet from the off, Garde was doomed. Inheriting a group with no cohesion and on the back of a dreadful start to the season, he could not turn things around.

garde-villa
Garde walks off after watching Villa lose 6-0 at home to Liverpool (Photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
Senior players like Micah Richards and Gabby Agbonlahor have since given their thoughts.

“It was the worst ever decision that Aston Villa could have made at the time,” Richards says. “Training was awful and everything went downhill.”

Agbonlahor also told Talksport: “Remi Garde was the worst manager I ever played under. He is up there at the top on his own.”

Jack Grealish was exiled under the boss and he tells stories of getting told off for smiling at the training ground too often.

Even the French players did not warm to Garde and his staff.

By the time January came around, Lerner had pulled the plug on any spending, insisting he was not investing any more money on a club heading into the Championship without so much of a fight.

The memories of that fatal 2015-16 season still cut deep. The 6-0 defeat by Liverpool, Villa’s opponents this weekend, was a particular low point.

Jordan Lyden, an academy graduate recalls making his Premier League debut that day.

“I was trying to enjoy the moment but the players look disheartened around me because they’re getting booed by their own fans which is not a nice feeling,” he told The Athletic.

Garde left after just five months in charge. In truth it was five months too many. Those in charge got it wrong and have faced the consequences ever since.

For Lerner, it was particularly damaging as he sold the club for £65 million on relegation. Of course, he would have received a much larger sum had they stayed in the Premier League.

Garde, who had enjoyed some success at Lyon, has since dropped off the radar. His time in MLS with Montreal Impact was disappointing and he is currently out of work.

Galtier, on the other hand, is thriving. We’ll never know if he would have provided the spark that Villa needed six years ago and secured survival. Perhaps he made the right decision not to join at such a wretched time for the club.

Seeing him get the best out of a squad that is currently outperforming the might of wealthy PSG will not come as a surprise to those who pushed for him at Villa, though.

He was the top target, the man Villa thought they had, but for reasons out of their control, it just wasn’t meant to be.


Offline cdbearsfan

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7077 on: April 10, 2021, 11:52:20 AM »
Note to Villa owners in future: if an opposition manager recommends a potential recruit, tell him to fuck off.

Offline Mister E

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7078 on: April 10, 2021, 12:09:40 PM »
Thanks for posting the article, eamonn.
Blimey, every bit as bad as I remember (even though trying to forget).
« Last Edit: April 10, 2021, 12:11:44 PM by Mister E »

Offline OCD

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Re: Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa
« Reply #7079 on: April 10, 2021, 12:19:21 PM »
As shit as those times were, we probably wouldn't have had Edens and Sawiris as co-owners if things had happened differently.

 


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