Speaking on the Greatest Game Podcast, Micah Richards has opened up on his time at Aston Villa, claiming that everything went downhill for the team when Remi Garde arrived.
Villa were obviously relegated in the 2015/16 season, which happened to be Richards’ first season with the club, and while the defender isn’t the most popular figure at Villa Park, he says that everything went downhill after Remi Garde’s appointment.
“It was tough because I went there with great intentions. Tim Sherwood he was really good and his training sessions were really good, the only thing we didn’t have was goals. Look at the clips from when he was in charge, and then when he was sacked, it was all downhill from then. Remi Garde came in and had us doing some ridiculous army-base running assault course sort of thing, and then my knee, I didn’t miss one game under Tim Sherwood, but then when Garde came in it all went downhill,” Richards said.
The less said about that 15/16 campaign the better, but on reflection, hiring Garde was the nail in the coffin.
Sherwood wasn’t perfect by any means, but Garde was a downgrade and the Frenchman’s time at Villa Park was nothing short of shambolic.
The fact that he had his players doing army-style assault courses is laughable, and that, sadly, probably contributed to Richards’ injuries and subsequent early retirement.
Luckily, Villa have managed to pull themselves out of the mess they were in and they now look to have a good platform to re-establish themselves at the top-end of the Premier League.
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