Former Arsenal midfielder Remi Garde leaves Aston Villa by mutual consent after less than five months as manager

Under fire: Garde has departed with Villa odds-on for relegation
Dan Mullan/Getty Images
Nick Mashiter29 March 2016

Remi Garde's dismal spell as manager of Aston Villa has ended after less than five months.

The former Lyon boss won just twice in 20 Premier League games and left by mutual consent on Tuesday evening.

Garde had been on the brink of leaving for a couple of weeks with Villa on the verge of relegation and 12 points from safety ahead of Saturday's visit of Chelsea.

The 49-year-old also held lengthy talks with new board member David Bernstein earlier this month.

"Manager Remi Garde has today left Aston Villa Football Club by mutual consent," said a club statement.

"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."

Garde had been left disillusioned by a lack of backing in the transfer market having failed to land any new signings in January. He wanted Loic Remy and Croatian goalkeeper Lovre Kalinic while he lost out on Seydou Doumbia and Wahbi Khazri to relegation rivals Newcastle and Sunderland respectively.

Garde played for Arsenal between 1996-99.

He also struggled to win over some of the current players with his training methods and often refused to defend them in public as their performances and commitment were questioned.

Former Leicester boss Nigel Pearson quickly emerged as an early favourite with bookmakers to be the next Villa manager, with David Moyes, without a club since losing his job at Real Sociedad in November, also in the running.

Garde took over in early November, just over a week after Tim Sherwood was sacked, and inherited a side bottom of the table with just four points from 11 matches.

Under Garde, Villa picked up just 12 points with two victories and six draws, but they could not arrest the habit of losing which brought a further dozen defeats.

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