Peter Schmeichel has claimed that Aston Villa are a ‘difficult club’ who just haven’t been able to get it ‘right’ over the years because there has been someone in the chain of command ‘stopping’ their development, as he told BBC Radio 5 Live Sport.
The former goalkeeper added that Villa boss Steven Gerrard is ‘clever’ and ‘shrewd’ after doing his coaching badges with the Englishman.
Even though Gerrard had no experience of managing a Premier League club before, following his success at Rangers, Villa knocked on his door after sacking Dean Smith.
It has been a mixed start for the legendary midfielder, but Villa were back to winning ways on Saturday when they thrashed Southampton 4-0.
Nonetheless, this was the interesting take from Schmeichel on Villa and the new man in their dugout.
“I have taken some of my coaching badges with Steven Gerrard and it’s incredible to see somebody you know as a player,” said Schmeichel.
“How clever and how shrewd he is. How he absolutely knows precisely what it is that he wants. You kind of knew straight away that this guy is going to go far in management.
“He’s done the right thing. Rangers is a massive club. But in a smaller league. He learned his trade and made them champions. That was a very, very big turnaround for that football club.
“Now he was ready for this challenge. And it’s a big challenge. Dion (Dublin) and myself we played together at Villa and it’s a very difficult club to be at. It’s difficult also to pinpoint why. It’s like for years and years and years, they have got it good, but they have never really got it right, so there is always something missing.
“There has always been someone in the chain of command, I am not saying there is one now, stopping development. And making people unsafe. I remember hearing stories some of our staff used to pay for their own newspapers and it was actually taken off their wages! Stuff like that doesn’t make people go that extra mile.”
One thing is for sure, Villa now have owners and people in the boardroom who are desperate for the club to get back to the top.
The money spent, the structure that is being put in place, the players they have targeted and the man they have in the dugout all point towards that.
Now it’s a case of finding stability and motoring towards Europe because that is the minimum aim for this club.
It won’t happen this season, but it’s going to be interesting how Villa perform next term when Gerrard has a pre-season under his belt.
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