Aston Villa manager candidate gives sign of impending decision

It's been no secret that Aston Villa are courting the services of former Lyon manager Rémi Garde as a replacement for Tim Sherwood. The news of Sherwood's sacking broke on Sunday and almost immediately after that we found out that Garde was the leading candidate to get the job. Then some issues securing Garde's backroom staff from Lyon put the move on hold, if reports are to be believed.

But Garde, who appears on Canal+ in France as a pundit, has pulled out of his weekend television duties in a sign that many are interpreting as meaning a move is imminent. Of course he may simply be clearing his schedule for a weekend of negotiations, but even the fact that negotiations are continuing is good news in this saga.

The Birmingham Mail are reporting that Garde is eager to take the Villa job but loathe to do so without his former Lyon assistants, specifically Gerard Baticle (who is currently the number two at Lyon) and Robert Duverne (the fitness coach at Metz). So the fact that we haven't heard anything yet does still seem to be down to problems securing the services of those men.

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