Further shake-up at Aston Villa as new Football Board takes control

FURTHER upheaval appears likely at Aston Villa as the football club continues its personnel shake-up in the wake of the departure of former chief executive Tom Fox.

Fox quit on Thursday, hinting he had not seen eye-to-eye with new chairman Steve Hollis since the latter’s arrival in January.

Now, fresh from the club’s 1-0 defeat to Swansea on Saturday there is growing speculation that manager Remi Garde could be the next to follow Fox out of the door as the club faces the reality of next season in the Championship.

Following the departure of Fox, a new Football Board has been set up to oversee all football matters affecting the club.

This new board is being chaired by former Manchester City chief David Bernstein and former Bank of England governor Mervyn King. It also includes popular former player and manager Brian Little, together with a new Head of Football Operations (HFO) when recruited.

A statement on the club’s website said the club’s manager would report directly to David Bernstein, while all other football functions would be under the remit of the HFO.

“This reorganisation will provide specialist and dedicated control at Bodymoor Heath with the aim of bringing stability, confidence and a platform for long term success to Aston Villa Football Club,” said the statement.

However, nowhere in the statement did it refer to Remi Garde as manager.

The club’s website also contains an in-depth interview with Mr Hollis, the former Midlands chairman of KPMG and vice-chairman of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership.

In it he refers to the club’s business model as being ‘broken’ and he said he and the board were “taking decisive action as we go along to address the things that are actually wrong in the model itself”.

He said recent-arrival Bernstein, a chairman of the FA and at Wembley Stadium, was a football man through and through and was ‘fully committed’ to the Villa cause.

“If you look at David’s history, he has a distinguished business career,” said Mr Hollis.

He added: “I think Aston Villa is in really good shape with a breadth of talent and we now need to do the things we need to do to get the Club back to where it needs to be.”

On Mervyn King, he states: “We have one of the planet’s leading bankers who knows everything about Villa. He’s a Villa nut!

“I have seen him chat with the players and talk through moves and goals from the past.

“They look at this gentleman with a suit and he just commands their respect.
“He’s a great addition to the club and board.”

He was diplomatic on Fox’s departure, saying: “Tom said himself in the press release that the decision was made based on the model that is now changing.

“The model that Tom led has changed as we’ve built a new board.

“Tom came to the decision that actually that model wasn’t something he wanted to work with. So he decided to step down.”