Aston Villa: Gregg Evans discusses Dean Smith’s position

The Athletic’s Gregg Evans has been discussing the position of Aston Villa’s English manager Dean Smith.

Since the former Brentford boss’ appointment at Villa Park in October 2018, the 49-year-old manager has overseen 84 matches as the Villans’ gaffer (per Transfermarkt).

However, despite taking the club into the Premier League and ultimately keeping them up, there was some talk prior to the end of the season that Smith was “on the brink” of being axed by Villa (per Football Insider).

So, in a recent Aston Villa special of the Tifo Football Podcast, Evans discussed Smith’s position at Villa Park and if there was any chance of him being replaced.

He said: “I think Villa want him as their boss next season. His job’s safe for now. The players like him, I was told by some of the senior players that when there were rumours of him potentially losing his job that they were very unhappy at that.

“They thought that they were creating this siege mentality and they were all pulling together and then when they read reports – which were false by the way – that he was going to lose his job or potentially losing his job, it created a bit of unrest and uneasiness amongst the group.

“For a large part of this season, it’s felt like Villa have struggled and underperformed. So, of course, in times of success, then you praise the whole team. Also, in times of struggle, you all have to shoulder a proportion of the blame.

“For now, Dean Smith’s the man to take Villa forward and I really personally hope he does, because he’s somebody I’ve known for a long time.”

TIF Thoughts…

Seemingly, Smith still has the backing of Villa’s hierarchy and players. The journalist also suggests that reports such as the one which was published by Football Insider were false.

With a season of Premier League experience under his belt now, hopefully Smith can guide Villa to a more comfortable finish in the top flight next term than what they had in the 2019/20 season.