Ex-Aston Villa boss Roberto di Matteo has revealed what went wrong during his time at Aston Villa.
Speaking to The Athletic, the Italian revealed there were many issues with the club during his time at Villa Park, and that he was “p***** off” when he was sacked.
He said:
We spoke about a project and agreed that the first season was going to be tough. The play-offs were the aim and I believe we would have got there. But the club made a decision like that (after just 124 days).
How long did it take them to get back into the Premier League in the end? Three seasons.
Despite the disappointment, I was happy they achieved what they set out to do.
The former Chelsea and Schalke manager revealed that there were also numerous issues at the club during his time there.
I had so much to deal with during that summer — trying to sort out the team, getting rid of the players who wanted to leave, dealing with the players who had release clauses, recruiting a brand new team, and then putting in a structure.
The issues were endless.
Read Aston Villa’s Verdict
Di Matteo’s account of what happened at Villa just after their relegation to the Championship very much shows the turmoil that was happening at the time.
His frustrations with signing players and also selling the players that did not want to be there shows that it was a disjointed squad, and shows what a difficult job he had to do.
He is also right that it was wrong to expect an instant return to the top flight, with Villa only just getting it done last season.
