Au Revoir, Remi Garde: A Man in Completely the Wrong Job at Completely the Wrong Time

I'm glad to see Remi Garde leave Aston Villa. I'll sleep easier tonight knowing that he's gone. It's a genuine relief to witness his exit "by mutual consent". After 147 days in charge of the club, he's finally decided to end his fruitless struggle against the tide and allow himself to be swept out on to the briny ocean of Premier League failure. The only puzzling aspect of his departure is this: why did it take so bloody long?

Despite winning only two of his 20 league games this campaign, and despite Villa's abject performances during his tenure, there's no doubt that Garde is a capable manager. In his three seasons at Lyon he managed to record fourth, third, and fifth-placed finishes respectively, with a 50.6% win ratio overall. He led the team to European qualification each year and won the Coupe de France in 2012. A young coach with progressive principles, his stock was high when he left Ligue 1 for a sabbatical in the summer of 2014.

So why did he elect to manage perhaps the worst Villa side of all time just over a year later? And why didn't he realise the job wasn't for him the moment he arrived at Villa Park? I fear these questions will never be answered.

There have been few coaches in English football less suited to their jobs than Garde at Villa. After a long and steady period of decline, culminating in Tim Sherwood's six-game losing streak earlier this season, the team were in desperate need of a rugged, hardy coach with plenty of Premier League experience. Villa needed someone who could whip them into shape, shore them up defensively and restore something like a sense of pride to the club. David Moyes would have been ideal. Nigel Pearson, likewise.

Instead, their directionless, absentee hierarchy decided to appoint someone who had never managed in England. They went for an enterprising coach with a personal emphasis on high-tempo passing and attacking verve – a man whom Lyon fans had affectionately nicknamed "Remi Gardiola".

The only problem being, Villa's current side have nothing like the talent (let alone the confidence) to play that sort of football. Garde was a glaring mismatch from the start – a meagre 12 points from 20 league games is the result.

As such, Remi will go down in Premier League history alongside Egil Olsen, Alain Perrin and Juande Ramos as a decent manager who was in completely the wrong job at completely the wrong time. You wouldn't put a milkman in charge of an unstable nuclear silo, nor would you expect an accountant to perform a colonoscopy – so why would you think Remi Garde could save Aston Villa from the drop?

It was never, ever going to work out for him. He's a much better manager than his recent record suggests but, nonetheless, he'll be remembered as perhaps the most unsuitable appointment of our time.