Aston Villa CEO explains why Steven Gerrard was sacked

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Aston Villa CEO explains why Steven Gerrard was sacked

Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow has explained that the club took the decision to sack Steven Gerrard over his failure to meet a target of 'continuous improvement'.

Gerrard was relieved of his duties after his side lost 3-0 away to Fulham on Thursday night, leaving them 17th in the Premier League table.

Under his management, the team won just two of their 11 matches so far this season and haven't tasted victory in over a month.

As a result, Gerrard, as well as support staff Gary McAllister, Neil Critchley, Tom Culshaw, Jordan Milsom and Scott Mason have all been let go.

Explaining the decision, Purslow stated that progress simply hasn't been made quickly enough taking into account the club's results since the start of 2022.

“The Board has come to this decision following a full evaluation of results and performances over the calendar year," he said on the club website.

"We were clear when we appointed Steven that we set an objective of continuous improvement but that has not been achieved despite everybody’s best efforts and we believe the time is right to make these changes now.

“The process of appointing a new Head Coach is underway and we will update supporters as soon as possible.”

As for who that head coach will be, a number of managers were immediately linked with the club but the list is already getting smaller.

As previously reported by 90min, Mauricio Pochettino isn't interested in taking the job. Thomas Frank and Thomas Tuchel, out of work since leaving Chelsea last month, have also been linked.