Aston Villa fans could soon set to be even happier than they have been in the past week with reports in the Birmingham Mail suggesting that Paddy Riley could be set to leave Villa Park as part of planned changes by incoming new owner Dr Tony Xia.
It’s said that the position he holds as ‘Head of Recruitment’ could be deemed surplus to requirements. The new owner is said to prefer the idea of a sporting director after speaking with his advisors about the future for his acquisition.
Riley has been bearing the brunt of fans anger over the past 12 months after a disastrous summer last year which saw Villa bring in 13 new players and still get relegated from the Premier League for the first time in their history and from the top division of English football for the first time in 28 years.
It has never been quite clear how much of an influence Riley has had on transfers but with his right man, Hendrik Almstadt already leaving all roads point to the exit door for Riley.
Relief – Matt Lynch
I like many others are relieved that Riley could potentially be leaving. His gamble signings last summer cost Villa dearly and he seems to have got away lightly in the anger Villa fans have had. It was only going to be time before someone realised that Riley has to foot a large part of the blame for the past year of events at Aston Villa.
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