Remi Garde - Departs Aston Villa

[Villa in Denmark]

According to Houllier Garde likes to build his sides from the back which must be music to Guzan's ears. Or maybe not.

Behind the 6 yard line from goal kicks type play from the back?

Er, yes?

Sorry, a feeble and pathetic jibe at that tactical colossus Paul Lambert and his idea of playing out from the back.

[Jimbo]

According to Houllier Garde likes to build his sides from the back which must be music to Guzan's ears. Or maybe not.

Behind the 6 yard line from goal kicks type play from the back?

Er, yes?

Sorry, a feeble and pathetic jibe at that tactical colossus Paul Lambert and his idea of playing out from the back.

The only back Lambert tried to play out of was his backside.

Anyway, good luck, Remi. You might need it.

[A Northern Soul]

Do you think he is stuck in Paris waiting for our fog to clear so he can jump on a flight?

[brian green]

I first read that rather stereotypically as "is our frog waiting to jump on a flight?"

[supertom]

Good luck to him. Are we in too bad a position throughout the club to build a new philosophy? If it nearly saw us fall under with Houllier here, having inherited a top 6 side, then Garde coming into the bottom (thoroughly fucking deservedly) side in the Prem will have his work cut out.
I hope he does well. It would seem on paper he has the potential to put into a place some semblance of a footballing style. Houllier had a plan (not that we saw many good times under him), so I hope that Lyon connection bodes well.

I feel like we may have to go down to really get the rebuild going, although ultimately we need a new owner first and foremost. After fumbling about blindly with our appointments, I hope this one has been a bit more well considered. I could see why we went for Houllier. And I could see things happening under him, even among some dreadful results and performances, but I really cannot fathom why we went for McLeish or Sherwood. Lambert was a popular choice but he turned out to be a clueless chancer, whose footballing ideals seem to completely change from what he did at Norwich.

I've already resigned myself to relegation so staying up will be a bonus. If we can see something beginning to click, then it's all the better.

[Chris Smith]

There are some important unknowns with our squad. Are they better than they have looked so far? Have they been hampered by Sherwood's chopping and changing? Do we have a collection of individuals or a team? Although we probably have our own opinions none of us actually know the answer to these questions.

Garde has surely looked at the squad and has some ideas of what he will be inheriting. He is reported of having turned down approaches from this country previously which suggests that he is not willing to take any old job and has some confidence in what can be done here.

So, as fans, we are back to the same old position of hoping that this time it will be different as apart from MON no manager this century has come anywhere near meeting expectations.

[Villa in Denmark]

Good luck to him. Are we in too bad a position throughout the club to build a new philosophy? If it nearly saw us fall under with Houllier here, having inherited a top 6 side, then Garde coming into the bottom (thoroughly fucking deservedly) side in the Prem will have his work cut out.
I hope he does well. It would seem on paper he has the potential to put into a place some semblance of a footballing style. Houllier had a plan (not that we saw many good times under him), so I hope that Lyon connection bodes well.

I feel like we may have to go down to really get the rebuild going, although ultimately we need a new owner first and foremost. After fumbling about blindly with our appointments, I hope this one has been a bit more well considered. I could see why we went for Houllier. And I could see things happening under him, even among some dreadful results and performances, but I really cannot fathom why we went for McLeish or Sherwood. Lambert was a popular choice but he turned out to be a clueless chancer, whose footballing ideals seem to completely change from what he did at Norwich.

I've already resigned myself to relegation so staying up will be a bonus. If we can see something beginning to click, then it's all the better.

You could turn that round though and say that Houllier was trying to dismantle a philosophy that was designed for one purpose, MONball and implement his own more forward thinking vision with a group of players where there was a significant rump that weren't interested in listening.

We're now in a position where imposing a new style and philosophy shouldn't be a problem as there's nothing to remove or "unteach." On the contrary, we've got a squad of largely youngish players, mostly inexperienced in this league crying out for someone to give them some guidance that makes sense.

In some respects, that aspect of Garde's job could be easier.  On the down side, he's got far less room for mistakes.

[Dave]

The Fiver's take

By the time you read your favourite gut-bustingly amusing, searingly topical, savagely satirical email (we’re talking about The Fiver, smarty pants), then Remi Garde may well have been confirmed as Aston Villa’s new manager. That’s assuming the club don’t have a late change of heart, or Garde doesn’t take a look at Villa’s squad list, frown in bafflement at some of the names on it, ask ‘what’s a Gabby Agbonlahor?’ before the frown turns to horror, he screams and gets out of there as quickly and directly as possible, leaving a Remi Garde-shaped hole in the wall. Garde should be at Villa’s game against Tottenham on Monday night to inspect his new charges, but given how they’ve been playing recently it wouldn’t be a massive surprise should a club suit remark midway through the second half that ‘Remi’s been in the toilet a long time … I hope he’s OK’, before going to check on him and only finding an open window, gently swaying in the soupy north London air.

For Garde has quite a task on his hands, taking in such dire straits that they’re even below Premier League scrappers, chancers and no-hopers Newcastle, Sunderland and Chelsea. Villa are stone bottom, having not won a game since the opening day, flailing under the guidance of Tim Sherwood who seemed to construct his team line-ups like David Bowie used to write lyrics, writing words down, cutting them up then arranging them in a random order. That’s how we got such works of outlandish creativity as ‘You’re squawking like a pink monkey bird/And I’m busting up my brains for the words’, and José Ángel Crespo playing as a centre-half.

Hapless? Certainly. Hopeless? Perhaps not. Garde brings with him a fine reputation, having done very well under significant restrictions at Lyon, while at the same time helping to nurture young talents like Alexandre Lacazette and Nabil Fekir; since Villa have spent their relatively meagre budget on a collection of raw whipper snappers, one would think his prior experience will stand him in good stead.

“We almost have to play top-four standard of football points-wise to get us out of the trouble we’re in,” worried caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald, outlining the scale of Garde’s task. “If everything turns around, which hopefully it will, and we finish mid-table then I would like to think people would be eating their words. This is what players have to understand. They have to have that desire to ram words down people’s throats. I don’t mean that horribly. But that’s football – professional sport. Their pride is hurting – make no mistake about that. I imagine Jordan Ayew’s brother [Swansea’s André] is giving him a bit of stick. Whether people call it banter or not, people don’t like it. I know I don’t like it.” Amen, brother.

Garde is also good pals with Arsène Wenger, having played under the old boy for Arsenal and operated alongside him when doing telly punditry work for Canal+. The Fiver isn’t intimately familiar with the standard of analysis on French TV, but as long as Garde didn’t just gently intone ‘Il sera déçu par ce que’* over footage of Edinson Cavani missing an open goal, then they’re in safe hands. Or, at least, safer hands than the last bloke. Or the one before him. Or the one before him. So Godspeed, Remi. May you go well in your new adventure and hopefully you won’t realise you’ve made a huge mistake before you really even start. And if you find a tear-stained gilet in your office, don’t worry – Tim will be back for that in a few days.

*As fellow linguists** will know, this means: “He’ll be disappointed with that.”

**People who can use Google Translate

[rob_bridge]

VID

We're now in a position where imposing a new style and philosophy shouldn't be a problem as there's nothing to remove or "unteach."

Yes perversely he starts in a position of some strength. 9 wins and 9 draws please.

[JUAN PABLO]

If hes good mates with Wenger , maybe Wenger could do him a favour and loan us one of their players.

Sanchez please

[Chris Smith]

VID

We're now in a position where imposing a new style and philosophy shouldn't be a problem as there's nothing to remove or "unteach."

Yes perversely he starts in a position of some strength. 9 wins and 9 draws please.

Or 12 wins and no draws which strangely seem less daunting.

[Ormy Droid]

It's a rational common sense appointment given the players we bought in the summer, and in view of the clubs stated direction (in terms of transfer policy etc.) It would have made even more sense to have brought him in before the season started though.

If we'd only have parted ways with Sherwood in the summer ('thanks for keeping us up guv, but we've decided to go in a different direction, no hard feelings, eh?'), I think both Villa and Tim would be in a much better position now. Ours could hardly be worse, and would probably be a lot better if Remi Garde had a preseason etc. While Tim could have basked in the glow of keeping us up and getting to a Cup Final, and might already have been snapped up by some poor suckers.

Now though, Sherwood's reputation is in tatters (least it should be) and we're battling against relegation once again (only this time it's really serious). I still think an Allardyce or a Moyes would give us a better shot at staying up, but they'd want to bring their own players in, and we'd be back on the merry go round of constant upheaval yet again, watching a poorer quality of football probably. This does at least bring some hope of a brighter future, eventually.

[exigo]

Should be straightforward enough for Brigada to welcome him.

[VillaAlways]

Breaking on Sky that it's official

[Malandro]

Done