Claret Villans
Fansided

Aston Villa: Director of Football fired, day-to-day operations unclear

By Josh Tonti

MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND - MAY 12: Steve Bruce, Manager of Aston Villa arrives at the stadium prior to the Sky Bet Championship Play Off Semi Final First Leg match between Middlesbrough and Aston Villa at Riverside Stadium on May 12, 2018 in Middlesbrough, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND - MAY 12: Steve Bruce, Manager of Aston Villa arrives at the stadium prior to the Sky Bet Championship Play Off Semi Final First Leg match between Middlesbrough and Aston Villa at Riverside Stadium on May 12, 2018 in Middlesbrough, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Aston Villa Football Club fired Director of Football Steve Round, one day before pre-season is set to begin. Dr. Tony Xia’s reign now has zero personnel running the club with any significant previous football knowledge, outside of manager Steve Bruce.

A bombshell announcement on Wednesday shocked the Villa faithful. Steve Round – Aston Villa’s Director of Football – was axed very early in the morning by CCO Luke Organ and Rongtian He. Today is the first day of “pre-pre-season” with several players returning to Recon Training Ground Complex for medicals, physical assessments, etc.

Bruce is set to return from holiday on Thursday. Soon after, the first-team will jet off to Portugal for the club’s second annual training trip in the Algarve.

Heads continue to roll after two unsuccessful promotion campaigns left the club in a dire financial position. We are soon entering the second week of July and Aston Villa have not made a significant transfer in or out regarding players. While Steve Round’s job was always in jeopardy considering club performance, the timing suggests Dr. Tony Xia is conflicted. The problem now being that his indecisiveness is harming Villa’s chances of being successful at all next season.

If Round was no longer the right person for the job, why not fire him two months ago?

Next: Villa: Club Silence Helps No One

Aston Villa is currently being run by: Steve Bruce (who we can’t even be certain has a contract (?) or wouldn’t walk away considering the state of things), Luke Organ, a marketing executive with limited football knowledge (at least in terms of running a club), and Rongtian He, Dr. Tony Xia’s “eyes and ears” and a University student as of 2-3 years ago.

Home/Aston Villa News