Remi Garde leaves Aston Villa 'by mutual consent'
The axe has fallen on manager Remi Garde as Villa continue to prepare for life in the Championship next season.
Just hours after the Premier League's bottom club appointed former FA executive Adrian Bevington to work alongside their football board, Villa announced Garde would leave.
A brief statement on the club's website last night read: "Manager Remi Garde, has left Aston Villa Football Club by mutual consent. The club would like to place on record its sincere thanks to Remi for all his efforts during a difficult period and wish him well in the future.
"Eric Black will take over as acting manager until the club appoints a new manager. There will be no further comment from the club at this stage."
Appointed on November 2, Garde was handed the unenviable task of keeping up a side with just four points to their name and on a run of eight consecutive defeats.
A promising 0-0 draw against Manchester City gave brief hope, but was merely the first of Garde's 20 league matches in charge – of which he won just two.
His position has been increasingly at threat for weeks.
Villa have been carrying out a review into their decline of recent seasons and particularly dismal campaign in 2015/16, with chairman Steve Hollis appointing new club director David Bernstein and advisor Brian Little to help oversee the process – joined by Bevington yesterday. Chief executive Tom Fox and sporting director Hendrik Almstadt had already left the club while the future of recruitment guru Paddy Reilly looks increasingly insecure.
The 1-0 defeat at Swansea City on March 19 appeared to be the final straw for Garde, with reports of his departure emerging soon after, but it took days of wrangling between the two parties before Garde was finally on his way.
David Moyes, Nigel Pearson, Steve Bruce and Sean Dyche are among the early favourites to replace Garde.
