Garde on Aston Villa's deadline day: "I am not coming in front of the fans with good news"

Maybe it's time to pack this deadline day in early. After getting screwed by the FA on the transfer of Lovre Kalinić, Aston Villa have seen themselves passed up for Newcastle by Seydou Doumbia, and look set to miss out on Mathieu Debuchy. It's not a good place to be in and manager Rémi Garde realizes that. As for the underlying causes? Well, those are pretty obvious, but Garde laid them out for us:

"The situation of the team at the bottom of the table was not something easy to deal with for new players but it's not the only reason. It was also a financial problem but it's not my job to explain that again. Probably the club realise mistakes have been made in the past and they didn't want to do it again."

You almost have to feel badly for Garde. By all accounts he's worked as hard as anyone could ask for and he has nothing to show for it. Now he has to tell fans that if there are in fact any signings today, they will not be his first choices. At which point it might be time to pack it in and see what can be done with what Aston Villa already have.

Regardless of first, second, or third choice, don't expect too much.

"I am disappointed because I know I represent this big club. I am not coming in front of the fans with good news."