Next Villa Manager, Who do you want (With poll)

Gerard Houllier has backed Remi Garde to be a big success at Aston Villa, should he be appointed to succeed Tim Sherwood at Villa Park.

Garde, who is set to sign a three-and-a-half-year deal at Villa Park, worked under former Liverpool boss Houllier when they were at Lyon together.

Garde is likely to be in the stands on Monday night when Villa take on Tottenham at White Hart Lane, live on Sky Sports 1, with caretaker boss Kevin McDonald taking temporary charge.

Should Garde be appointed at Villa Park, his first game in charge would be at home against Manchester City next Sunday.

The 49-year-old has never coached outside of France, but he played for Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, and Houllier says he has all the attributes needed to succeed in the Premier League.

"Remi takes over and his first job is to get the confidence back into the players. I fully expect him to be a success in the Premier League," he told the Daily Telegraph.

"There is already a lot of talk about how he has not managed in England before but the same applies to Jurgen Klopp, Rafa Benitez and even myself and they didn't do too badly. He has spoken to me about Villa. I told him it was a great club with excellent facilities.

"I will be here to assist him if he needs any advice but he will have good people at Villa.

"He speaks the English language and will get his ideas and philosophy across. His philosophy will be attack-minded, he likes to build from the back."

Jimmycarr wrote:Wonder will Garde have any say in tonight's game or will it Kev's last hurrah before heading back to the academy?

Four reasons Remi Garde will be a success at Aston Villa
Randy Lerner has a poor track record of appointing managers at Aston Villa - but Tom Adams suggests some reasons why Remi Garde could buck the trend.

The Aston Villa job has become something of a poisoned chalice in the past five years, ever since Martin O’Neill dramatically resigned five days before the start of the 2010-11 season.

Gerard Houllier, Alex McLeish and Tim Sherwood all lasted fewer than 50 matches - Sherwood only notched up 28 before his dismissal last month - while Paul Lambert’s 115 came at a pitiful win percentage of under 30%.

Owner Randy Lerner’s record of recruitment is fairly horrendous - O’Neill was in place when he purchased the club in 2006 - and instead of targeting a manager like David Moyes, who knows the Premier League, he has taken a gamble in Remi Garde.

The former Lyon boss is expected to attend Monday night’s match against Tottenham Hotspur and could even be confirmed as Villa’s new boss before kick-off.

It’s a huge job for a man whose previous experience of English football came as a low-profile squad member in Arsene Wenger’s first title-winning Arsenal team in 1997-98 - but here’s four reasons he might just succeed where his predecessors have failed.

1. He’s already got a core of former Ligue 1 players to utilise
The more uncharitable might suggest Villa have been preparing for this managerial change since the summer, having signed no less than four players from Ligue 1: Jordan Ayew, Jordan Amavi, Jordan Veretout and Idrissa Gueye. Garde knows the value of having a Francophile core having joined Arsenal along with Patrick Vieira as the Gunners set about establishing the squad which would deliver the 1997-98 double.

Ayew has only scored once in nine games since his £8.4 million move from Lorient and Villa will hope that Garde has more success than his predecessor, Sherwood, who could only steer the club to the bottom of the Premier League with his batch of new recruits. Garde speaks their language, has common frames of reference and should be able to coax more out of the players at his disposal.

2. Intelligent, attacking football will be the order of the day
Aston Villa played moribund football at times under McLeish and then Lambert - even soul-destroying at times. Sherwood was a corrective appointment in this respect and his sunny demeanour and positive attitude produced an upturn in form following his appointment, particularly in the club's run to the FA Cup final. But he lacked the tactical framework to sustain it and now Villa hope they have found a coach who can entertain their long-suffering supporters in a more joined-up way.

As our French office explained elsewhere on Monday, Garde is “not a defensive coach”. He sets out to win matches and to do so in style - unsurprisingly, given he is a former acolyte of Wenger. Houllier, who had Garde as his assistant during his time in charge of Lyon, told Villa fans what they can expect in an interview in the Daily Telegraph at the weekend: "He speaks the English language and will get his ideas and philosophy across. His philosophy will be attack-minded, he likes to build from the back.”

3. He has a strong track record in bringing through youngsters
Upon taking charge of Lyon in 2011, following spells as an assistant coach and working with the youth setup, Garde was instructed to bring the wage budget down, disassemble a team full of talented stars and focus on youth development. During his time in charge, players such as Henri Bedimo and, most notably, Alexandre Lacazette made the transition from potential to achievement.

At Villa, the task is similar. Firmly ensconced outside of the English elite, Villa also want to develop young players on a smaller budget than many of their rivals. Jack Grealish is the standout young talent whom Garde will be asked to polish, but summer recruit Adama Traore, a Barcelona youth product, is another who Garde will hope to inspire.

4. He comes with excellent references
The two most successful French coaches to have worked in English football have both given Garde their seal of approval, even if their history of collaboration means they are rather biased on the matter.

Arsene Wenger (three league titles, six FA Cups with Arsenal):
" I am convinced he is a front-runner. Remi is an intelligent man who is now experienced. He will try to get his ideas across and hopefully he can work. They [Villa] have five or six French players who have not all had an impact."

Gerard Houllier (one FA Cup, two League Cups, one UEFA Cup with Liverpool):
" Remi takes over a team in a state of urgency and his first job is to get the confidence back into the players. He’s got a task on his hands to save them from relegation but I fully expect him to be a success in the Premier League. There is already a lot of talk about how he has not managed in England before but the same applies to Jurgen Klopp, Rafa Benitez and even myself and they didn’t do too badly."

danclare82 wrote:The OS they have spelt it REMY. Oh dear.