Gabby Agbonlahor: Former Aston Villa boss Remi Garde told Jack Grealish to 'stop smiling'

The Frenchman took charge of the club in November 2015 as they sat bottom of the Premier League – his tenure ended in March 2016 before Villa were eventually relegated.

The 53-year-old was known for putting emphasis on discipline and dropped Grealish from the side for partying after a 4-0 defeat to Everton – speaking to TalkSport, Agbonlahor described the ‘toxic atmosphere’ at the club during his time in charge.

“If you asked any player in that whole squad, they’d say exactly the same as me,” he said. “I remember when (Tim) Sherwood got sacked and a few of the older players, and myself, we begged and asked the chief executive to give the job to Kevin MacDonald.

“We thought at that time we needed an English, old school sort of manager who could get the best out of the players.

“We had so many French players at the time and I think they thought ‘let’s get a French manager’, to get the best out of them. When Remi Garde came in, he was arrogant in a bad way. In training he would be watching on the side with his arms folded, shaking his head.

“He was standing on the side and sulking, throwing his arms up. I was thinking, ‘come over and tell the squad what’s not right with the session’.

“The session finished and he walked in, he never got involved.

“He wanted it to be like an army base, you weren’t allowed to laugh or smile.

“One day Jack (Grealish) told me that Garde told him off for smiling. He was walking down the corridor and he (Garde) said ‘why are you laughing so much, why are you happy?’.

“Garde never smiled – there was a big split in the changing room with the French players and the English players.

“It was a toxic atmosphere in the changing room.''

In the same TalkSport interview, Agbonlahor also touched on Paul Lambert’s time in charge – revealing that he ‘felt sorry’ for the 50-year-old as the squad was thinned of its talent.

“That Villa team wasn’t the same Villa team as the one under Martin O’Neill,” he added. “Paul Lambert came in and it was an impossible job for him really.

“I actually felt sorry for Paul Lambert – he was basically told by the owner ‘anyone who is on good money has got to go’.

“It doesn’t even matter if you’re one of the better players, you’re going – no matter what you’ve got on the pitch.

“He was bringing in players from League Two, some players, League One, and it’s the Premier League - you’re playing against superstars.

“I think that’s what let Villa down, especially that season and seasons on from that, the squad was basically not good enough.

“No offence to the players that Paul Lambert was bringing in. (We might have had) £10 million to spend in the summer and then we’d make a £2m signing from the French second division as a gamble and (those players) weren’t working.

“I remember there was a striker, (Nicklas) Helenius, he came and he was nowhere near it. All these players we were signing like basically gambles.

“I do rate Paul Lambert for the job he did because any other manager would have probably walked.”