Ashley Preece has been speaking on the Claret and Blue podcast about how he would like to see Steven Gerrard succeed Dean Smith.
The former Villa boss was relieved of his duties on Sunday afternoon following the club’s fifth defeat in a row. Despite having beaten Manchester United and Everton this season, the Villans find themselves just two points above the bottom three.
Should Steven Gerrard replace Dean Smith?
Yes!
No!
Given these results, accompanied by the amount of money Villa have spent not just this summer, but since returning to the Premier League, it’s only fair that the club’s owners expected more than what Smith was delivering at Villa Park.
Now that he’s been sacked, several managers have been linked with the job, with Gerrard and Belgium boss Roberto Martinez reportedly on a shortlist, according to Sky Sports – although both would require Villa to fork out a fee given they’re still in jobs.
Preece has backed the Rangers manager to be a great fit for Villa.
“The one that springs to mind straight away given his links to [Christian] Purslow [is] Steven Gerrard. I think he’s done what he’s done at Rangers now.
“I think he’d see Villa as a huge upgrade. [Being a] Premier League manager, I think he’d fancy a bit of that, but he’d use it as a stepping stone, wouldn’t he? When Klopp moves on at Liverpool, he’d want that gig.”
TIF Thoughts on Gerrard to Villa…
It would be a huge step for Gerrard if he was to leave Rangers mid-season while on course for a second successive SPFL title, to join an Aston Villa side who are winless in their last five games, are fresh from losing their star player in the summer and have the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Leicester City to play in their next five games.
Gerrard only has to look at how Celtic fans reacted to Brendan Rodgers leaving during a season for a Premier League club to see that it won’t be warmly welcomed, and are set for another shot at the Champions League next season – something that would only be a pipe dream at Villa Park this campaign.
With Preece highlighting that Gerrard already has links to Christian Purslow as the pair worked together at Liverpool, it could certainly help sway things when persuading Gerrard to leave Glasgow and relocate back to the Premier League, and this could be a great opportunity to prove himself in the top flight if he has aspirations of managing Liverpool one day.
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