Aston Villa journalist Dan Rolinson has made a claim on Villa manager Dean Smith.
This comes after Rolinson recently hosted an episode of the Birmingham Mail’s Claret & Blue Podcast to look back at Villa’s 1-1 draw against West Ham on the final day of the season as they avoided relegation to the Championship.
On the topic of Smith and his future as Villa’s manager, Rolinson shared his thoughts on the matter.
He said: “I would say that Dean Smith has done a great job to get us out of it. Yes, he’s made some poor decisions along the way – but at the end of the day, he’s the guy that’s kept us in the Premier League.
“Yes, you might be able to make a case that he isn’t cut out to be a Premier League manager in the long run – to get mid-table or Europe or whatever it is, as far as you want to go up, but in the here and now, Dean Smith with his players, and this season of learning what it takes to be a Premier League manager, I think it’d be a crazy decision to sack him now.”
Smith took over at Villa back in October 2018, since then he has managed to get Villa promoted from the Championship and kept them in the Premier League by the skin of their teeth.
This season saw Villa win just nine out of their 38 league games, draw eight and lose 21 of them (per BBC Sport).
Back in November, the Birmingham club announced that Smith had signed a four-year contract that would see him remain in charge of Villa until 2023.
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TIF Thoughts…
Despite only just managing to avoid relegation this season, it’s nice to hear Rolinson recognising the job Smith has done in keeping the club in the top-flight.
Their league position proves that there is a lot of work to be done at Villa this summer so they don’t end up in another relegation battle next season.
Smith still has some years left on his contract as Villa boss, so he’ll be hoping he gets the chance to see that contract out in full.