Steven Gerrard has been sacked as Aston Villa manager after less than a year in charge at Villa Park.
The former Liverpool skipper leaves the Midlands outfit in 17th, with just two wins from their 10 Premier League games, the most recent of which being an away 3-0 drubbing to Fulham on Thursday night. Following the result, Aston Villa swiftly released a statement which read: "Aston Villa Football Club can confirm that Head Coach Steven Gerrard has left the club with immediate effect."
A club spokesman added: "We would like to thank Steven for his hard work and commitment and wish him well for the future."
Just minutes before Villa made their call, Gerrard vowed to keep fighting and not give up. "It's tough but I'm a man, I accept it," he told Prime Video post-match. "I understand it, I can feel their frustration, I'm frustrated with them [too]. It was a tough night for me, personally."
He added: "I understand the situation we are I am. I am a fighter and I will never quit. We will see what happens."
The 42-year-old was subject to booing from the travelling support as well as chants of 'you're getting sacked in the morning' from a packed out Craven Cottage.
Villa captain John McGinn echoed his manager's verdict, with their side having won just two Premier League games all season. "We're disappointed. That doesn't represent us as players and it's embarrassing to be involved in. We've let the supporters down, let the manager down and let ourselves down," McGinn declared, also speaking to Prime Video.
"This is part of football and part of representing a big club. We need to start performing, there's far too many of us not doing well enough at the moment. We do have the ability to that but we're not hitting those levels and that's the disappointing thing. We understand the fan's anger but we need to try and ignore that. We apologise to them and we just need to get ready for Sunday now."
Gerrard opted to leave Rangers, where he had won the Scottish title, and head south of the border back in November. But he failed to enjoy similar success. The writing was seemingly on the wall for Gerrard when sections of the Villa Park crowd called for their manager to be sacked during a defeat to Chelsea on Sunday.
After that reverse Gerrard accepted that results needed to improve: "We need to turn these results into wins and try to move up the table. For me it's about protecting the players. There will be criticism and I need to take the responsibility away from the players."
He also claimed: "I've had support from above [the board] but a lot of that support is injured. I have to keep fighting and I will take any criticism that comes my way and accept it."
Villa, who are enjoying their fourth successive season in the top flight after securing promotion in 2019, have been linked with an ambitious move for Mauricio Pochettino, who was sacked by PSG in the summer but previously excelled at Tottenham.
