Aston Villa confirm backroom staff changes ahead of Unai Emery arrival
Aston Villa have confirmed that goalkeeper coach Neil Cutler has left the club, while Aaron Danks has been offered a new role within the club.
New manager Unai Emery is set to start work with the club on Tuesday (1 November) after being appointed to replace Steven Gerrard, and is bringing some of his own staff with him.
That means the current members of staff are leaving the club, including highly-respected head of goalkeeper coaching Cutler, while current caretaker boss Danks has been offered a new role that is yet to be confirmed.
Danks oversaw two games as manager between Gerrard and Emery – a 4-0 win over Brentford and a 4-0 defeat to Newcastle United most recently.
He had previously been an assistant coach to Dean Smith and Gerrard at the club, and they are speaking to him over a new role to keep him at the club but not as part of Emery’s backroom staff at Villa Park.
Changes
These changes may not be too popular right now because Cutler is a hugely popular figure in and around the club, while Danks has done a job that is near impossible since Gerrard was sacked.
But if the new boss is to succeed at Aston Villa, he needs to be backed completely and if that means he should bring in his own staff to get his methods across quickly then so be it.
Cycles in football come to an end and eventually these decisions will be justified if the appointment is the right one as many believe it is.
Emery has got a proven record of turning struggling teams into sides that are difficult to beat and achieve success beyond their wildest dreams from when he took over.
If he can replicate that at Villa Park he’ll be remembered for a very long time, along with his new staff and nobody will be batting an eyelid at this news, so lets get behind him and his boys to bring success back to this great club.
In other Aston Villa news, Gary Lineker reacted to Unai Emery’s appointment as manager