Aston Villa officially hire Rémi Garde as Tim Sherwood's replacement

Well that was certainly a quick turnaround. Merely eight days after giving Tim Sherwood the sack, Aston Villa have announced the hiring of Rémi Garde as their newest manager. Garde is the 29th full-time manager in the history of the club, but the 5th since Martin O'Neill's abrupt resignation before the 2010-11 season. He comes to Villa after having managed Lyon for three years. Before that he was a defender with Lyon, Strasbourg, and finally Arsenal.

Garde's appointment also means that he and Aston Villa were able to lure some of his assistants to Birmingham and out of their contracts with other clubs. Reginald Ray, who is currently the assistant at Bastia, looks set to becomes Garde's number two. The delays over backroom staff were a bit irritating, but given how little help our managers have gotten from assistants in the recent past, I think it's certainly worth it if it means having a fully committed management team rather than one man with lieutenants he doesn't trust.

Garde was set to have been unveiled before the match against Tottenham, but his private jet was delayed leaving Lyon due to fog. Nevertheless, he was set to play no role in the match anyhow, so the delay didn't hurt anything. Now that he's here, he can get to work saving Aston Villa from yet another terrifying relegation fight.

The official announcement from Aston Villa (complete with an image misspelling the manager's name) is here.