Facing relegation from England’s top football tier for the first time in almost 30 years, Aston Villa on Wednesday fired manager Paul Lambert.
With just 13 matches remaining and facing relegation for the first time since 1987, Aston Villa on Wednesday fired manager Paul Lambert.
In a short statement on its official website, the club announced the firing, while saying coach Scott Marshall and goalkeeping coach Andy Marshall will remain on.
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Aston Villa’s next match is an FA Cup tie with Leicester City at Villa Park.
The club is currently 18th on the English Premier League table with 22 points, tied with Queens Park Rangers. However, Aston Villa trails on goal differential with a minus-22 to the minus-17 for QPR and as such occupies one of the three spots for relegation to the Football Championship along with Burnley (21 points) and Leicester City (17 points).
Aston Villa hasn’t played outside of England’s top division since it was relegated to the second division after a last-place finish in the First Division in 1986-87.
It played its way back into the top tier the following season. This is their 26th consecutive season in England’s premier division, including every season since the Premier League was created in 1992-93.
But its last title came in 1981 and it hasn’t qualified for European club play since 2010.
Lambert took over as Aston Villa’s chief in June 2012 and posted a record of 34-55-26.
He has also managed Livingston, Wycombe Wanderers, Colchester United and Norwich City since 2005 and has a career win percentage of 39.09 (172-164-104).
The 45-year-old Scotsman played 21 seasons professionally with St. Mirren, Moterhwell, Borussia Dortmund, Celtic and Livingston. He was a member of the Borussia Dortmund side that captured the Champions League in 1997 and was a member of four Scottish Premier League champions while with Celtic.
While managing Norwich City, he led the team to successive promotions in 2009-10 and 2010-11, from League 1 all the way up to the Premier League, the first club to earn consecutive promotions at England’s top levels since Manchester City in 1999 and 2000.
Aston Villa never finished higher than 15th on the 20-team Premier League table under Lambert.
The club claims seven league titles at the top tier, but only one since 1910. Aston Villa has also won the FA Cup seven times, most recently in 1957, and took the European Cup title in 1981-82.
The Marshalls, Scott and Andy, will share the role of caretaker manager. The club said a new manager would be hired “in due course.”
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