Remi Garde hired as Aston Villa’s 5th manager in 5 years, tasked keeping team in EPL

BIRMINGHAM, England – Aston Villa hired Remi Garde as its fifth manager in five years on Monday, tasking him with keeping the last-place team in the Premier League.

The former France player signed a contract through June 2019 at the Birmingham club, succeeding Tim Sherwood, who was fired after eight months in charge.

Within hours of his appointment being announced, Garde was in the directors’ box at Tottenham to see Villa lose 3-1 with Kevin MacDonald still in temporary charge.

“It is an unbelievable honour to be the manager of such an illustrious football club,” Garde said. “They have ambitious plans for the club and I’m excited that they have turned to me to help them realize them.

“Obviously we have a difficult task in front of us but I’m looking forward to the challenge with the support of everyone who loves Aston Villa.”

The 49-year-old Garde, who won the Premier League with Arsenal in 1998, left the managerial job at Lyon in 2014 after three years for personal reasons.

“Remi came with ideas, honesty, humour and a steely sense of what it will take for Aston Villa to be what it is meant to be — hard-working, tireless, creative and unwilling to concede,” owner Randy Lerner said.

Villa had lost its last six matches in all competitions going into Monday night’s game at Tottenham.

“Nobody at Villa can deny that we are way behind,” Lerner said. “We recruited aggressively this past summer and it is our responsibility to now harvest this talent rather than buckle under pressure and criticism. We are better than that.”