Why Villa’s ambitions meant patience with Smith ran out
Despite a net spend of more than £200m, manager seemed to be leading club he supported towards a relegation battle
Managing Aston Villa was always the dream job for Dean Smith, who watched those stirring days of the early Eighties from the Holte End terraces as a kid.
There was a romance to Smith’s appointment, and in seeing him lead the club back to the Premier League after a three-year absence in 2019. Yet there was also a sad inevitability to his sacking, confirmed during a meeting with Villa’s owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, and chief executive Christian Purslow, at the club yesterday lunchtime.
Results alone had placed Smith under intolerable pressure – and not simply the five-game losing streak that culminated in last Friday’s meek performance at Southampton. Villa have been beaten 18 times in 2021, a record which jarred with the owners’ stated ambition of a topeight finish this season.
“We remain deeply ambitious, our five-year plan is to consistently improve,” Purslow said when reviewing last season. “With a couple of smart signings this summer, just to make us even stronger, the owners and I are highly optimistic about next season.”
The sale of Jack Grealish to Manchester City for £100million had not blunted the expectations heaped on Smith during the summer. Grealish was always going to be a huge loss, yet there was confidence that Smith now had a broader squad with more options, given that he had been backed with significant transfer funds. With a net spend of more than £200million, he has been supported with cash that not even the likes of Liverpool can match – although given recruitment has veered between excellent and patchy, the scrutiny should extend beyond Smith.
Still, the outlay helps explain the sense of disappointment among Villa executives that this season, after a promising start, has threatened to tailspin into a relegation battle, and why they felt the need to act to arrest it. Having been dismayed by the performance in the 1-0 defeat at Southampton, Purslow, Edens and Sawiris spent Saturday afternoon locked in talks over what to do, before informing Smith of the decision to sack him at lunchtime yesterday.
Smith is said to have accepted that this season has not been good enough, even if he did point out that summer signings Emiliano Buendia, Danny Ings and Leon Bailey had played only 24 minutes together because of injuries.
Those injuries have proved critical, while there has been further disruption, including a chaotic preseason, in which Smith himself had to complete a week of isolation, players flying to South America and back, and trying to introduce a new style of play.
Yet there is no disguising that performances this year have been alarming. In the final stages of the Southampton game, his substitutions and game plan looked desperate and chaotic. He has appeared worn down and tired in interviews.
Players have looked lost, uncertain of their roles. Even Tyrone Mings and John Mcginn, usually such reliable performers, have been struck by the malaise.
But the squad were clearly determined to get it right for their manager. Allegations of confrontations, including most recently between Ezri Konsa and Buendia in the dressing room after the 4-1 defeat to West Ham, only underlined the growing anxiety over Smith’s position.
The process of finding Smith’s replacement will be led by Purslow and sporting director Johan Lange. The shortlist will be ambitious, and the position will be highly sought after.
Smith, who can name the 14 players who won the title under Ron Saunders in 1981 without missing a beat, will be guaranteed a warm reception when he returns, either as a spectator or, most likely, an opposing manager. There will be no shortage of interest in him, and he deserves to walk around Villa Park with his head held high. Perhaps he was a victim of his own success.