On their second manager since their descent to the Championship last season, it doesn’t look like Aston Villa will be returning to the Premier League for the 2016-17 campaign.
Roberto Di Matteo succeeded Rémi Garde at Aston Villa following their relegation, and the Frenchman is yet to find a new job.
Linked with Ligue 2 side Strasbourg at one point, as well as a director role at his former side Lyon, Garde was most recently put forward for a role with the French Football Federation as their National Technical Director.
However, the former Aston Villa manager has allegedly turned down the post, as he explained himself to Le Progrès on Monday, relayed by Foot01.com.
Garde is apparently keen to return to management rather than pickup a senior role elsewhere, and, at 50 years of age, you can hardly blame him.
While his last job didn’t exactly go to plan, few blame the Frenchman for the poor results at Villa Park due to the mess the club was in before being taken over by Dr. Tony Xia last summer.
Currently 12th in England’s second tier, the Villains are 14 points off a playoff spot, meaning that barring a miraculous vein of form and everyone ahead of them dropping points left, right and centre, promotion is off the cards.
Despite this, Steve Bruce is seemingly slowly turning things around, with Aston Villa winning four of their five last games, scoring seven goals and conceding just the one.
