Smith was appointed Villa head coach just over three years ago in October 2018 and led the club back to the Premier League via the play-offs in his first season in charge.
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Dean Smith is the latest managerial casualty in the Premier League on the back of the club’s recent poor record. Aston Villa have sacked their head coach after suffering five successive league defeats. The last of which came at Southampton on Friday. Smith was appointed Villa head coach just over three years ago in October 2018 and led the team back to the Premier League via the play-offs in his first season in charge following a club-record ten-match winning sequence towards the end of that campaign. The following season, he kept Villa in the top flight while also helping the team reach the Carabao Cup Final at Wembley. However, they narrowly lost the title match 2-1 to Manchester City.
CEO Christian Purslow was quoted as saying by the club’s website: “When Dean joined us in October 2018 our team was really struggling in The Championship. 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.”
He added: “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.”
Left-back Matt Targett has confessed that Aston Villa’s 1-0 defeat at Southampton on Friday night was “a difficult one to take”. The Villans were undone by Adam Armstrong’s third-minute strike at St Mary’s. It inflicted a fifth successive Premier League reverse for the club.
“It’s a difficult one to take,” he told VillaTV. “In the first half, we weren’t good enough again, second half we threw everything at it but we just couldn’t get the goal. We’ve only got ourselves to blame in the end.
“There’s only so much the manager can do, but us, as players, we’ve got to take responsibility. We’ve got to worry about our own performances and not many of us have been doing that this season. I put myself up there too, I haven’t been as good as I was last season. It’s difficult to take.”
