Remi Garde likely to become Aston Villa manager

Remi Garde likely to become Aston Villa manager, says Kevin MacDonald

• Frenchman Garde could be at Villa’s next game at Tottenham
• Lyon want to keep Garde’s possible assistants



Remi Garde was linked with the Newcastle job in 2015 but is set to join Aston Villa. 

Kevin MacDonald expects Remi Garde to be Aston Villa’s next manager. Villa made Garde their first choice after sacking Tim Sherwood last Sunday on the back of six straight defeats.

MacDonald is the caretaker manager and preparing the team for Monday’s trip to Tottenham. He has given the clearest indication yet Garde, a former Lyon manager, is set for Villa.

He said: “Obviously, the hierarchy think he is the man for the job. I’ve been told I need to prepare the team for Monday. Whether Remi has been given the position and is maybe in the stand to watch, I don’t know, that is going to be an ongoing thing.

“He was a decent footballer at Arsenal, they don’t have many bad players over the years, and he has got a good pedigree as a coach. If, at the end of the season, Aston Villa are still in the Premier League then it’s a good appointment. Arsène Wenger came in and never had any Premier League experience.”

Garde, 49, is keen on bringing the Lyon coaches Bruno Génésio and Gérald Baticle with him but the club president, Jean-Michel Aulas, has said they are not available.

Wenger signed Garde for Arsenal in 1996, on the same day as Patrick Vieira, and has backed him to be a success at Villa Park should he join.

Arsenal’s manager said: “It is a challenge that he should take. Are assistants of Lyon free or not? It doesn’t matter, it’s a challenge he should take. Remi is an intelligent man who has experience in Lyon now. He will try to get his ideas through, the ideas he got through in Lyon, and hopefully it can work.

“They have five or six French players there who haven’t all had an impact, maybe he will give them a chance, I don’t know.”

Guardian