The former Villa goalkeeper rates Smith as a manager but insists he could understand if he had reservations.
Former Aston Villa goalkeeper Nigel Spink has admitted that he fears leading managerial candidate Dean Smith could turn down the potential to join the club as it could kill his coaching career, as quoted by the Birmingham Mail.
Villa owner Tony Xia sacked Roberto di Matteo after just four months in charge on Monday morning after the 2-0 defeat to Preston left the relegated side with just one win from their first 11 Championship games.
That is a truly awful record for a club who had been an ever-present in the Premier League until this season, and Xia clearly felt he had to make a change sooner rather than later.
The search has now begun for a fourth new full-time manager since February 2014, and one man who has been tipped as a leading candidate is Brentford boss Dean Smith, who has not only impressed hugely with first Walsall and now the Bees, but is a boyhood Villa fan.
However, Villa’s legendary European Cup-winning goalkeeper Spink is wary of touting the 45-year-old as a favourite despite his success as he believes Smith may feel that taking the Villa job, something of a poisoned chalice in recent years, could risk ruining his managerial career.
Spink said, via the Birmingham Mail: “Dean Smith is a very interesting shout because of his Villa background and also he’s doing a fantastic job in this own right. Is that the right person? He might feel that this job is too big and might kill his career before he makes his mark.
“The margins are very fine here, they’re not very far away from actually doing okay. They just haven’t. What’s happened is because of the state of the club over the last five or six years.
“I think the current squad now have lost a bit of confidence in themselves and in their own ability. They haven’t got results and it’s ground to a halt again. It needs somebody that’s going to generate the passion to kick them on again and I hope the owner gets it right with the right person and is doing his background work right now.”
Those comments risk angering some Villa fans, but others will understand Spink’s reservations.
Since Paul Lambert was sacked in February 2014, Tim Sherwood lasted eight months, Remi Garde lasted five months, and Di Matteo has now been given the boot after only four months.
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