Aston Villa fans have got their wish, Steven Gerrard is gone. Thursday night’s 3-0 loss against Fulham at Craven Cottage was the final straw as the former Rangers boss was relieved of his duties shortly after the game finished.
We take a look at who the next potential Villa manager might be based on the current market provided by Betfred.*
Ruben Amorim - (EVS)
Sporting CP manager Ruben Amorim is the current frontrunner for the vacant Villa position. The highly-rated coach led the club to the league title in 2020/21 and has won the Portuguese League Cup for the last three years. More recently, Amorim masterminded a 2-0 victory over Spurs in the Champions League this season.
Mauricio Pochettino - (3/1)*
One of the hottest coaches on the market right now, Pochettino was lauded as one of the best in the world for the wonders he worked with Tottenham as he turned them into a strong force in the Premier League and guided them to the Champions League final in 2019.
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His work with young players is renowned and would be a huge box tick for the Villa hierarchy with the likes of Jacob Ramsey and Cameron Archer tipped for promising futures. It would be a signal of intent from the board if they could bring him in, but he would require significant backing to build a squad to his liking.
Sean Dyche - (5/1)*
Villa fans will be quick to turn their noses up at Dyche for his chastised style of play with Burnley. But the truth is he worked wonders at Turf Moor with a limited budget and even got the Clarets to the Europa League qualifying play-offs in 2018-19.
He spoke in the summer about his philosophy, saying it is adaptable to each club and the resources he has available. Villa have some decent attacking options who should be performing better - you might just see a different Dyche if he had the chance to manage this group of players.
Thomas Frank - (8/1)*
The Brentford boss has worked wonders in west London since taking over from Dean Smith, who left the Bees for Villa, four years ago. He guided the club to the Premier League for the first time in their history and with his pragmatic style of play, has caused disruption against some of the division’s elite.
Frank could be a very smart appointment for Villa should they pursue him as he has proven that he is more than capable of delivering at this level. But given the stability provided to him at Brentford, he may feel that now is not the right time for him to move on.
Unai Emery - (8/1)*
Things didn’t go quite to plan for the Spanish manager when he was in charge of Arsenal a few years back, but he has since rebuilt his reputation in Spain as he claimed a record fourth Europa League title with Villarreal in 2020-21, and led them to the Champions League semi-finals last season. The Spaniard might just consider another crack at English football to prove doubters wrong if the opportunity arose.
Michael Beale - (10/1)*
This man just cannot get away from being linked with jobs in the West Midlands. He recently turned down an approach from Wolverhampton Wanderers and reassured his commitment to Queens Park Rangers, which has been his first command in football.
It has been said that Gerrard’s success at Rangers stemmed from Beale, who was his assistant, and he is highly regarded as a coach among the game. This one seems unlikely due to him already rejecting Wolves in the past week.
*18+ | BeGambleAware
