Aston Villa’s training ground ‘not a happy place at all’ during Steven Gerrard tenure

Former Aston Villa striker Andy Gray has given a damning insight into Steven Gerrard’s time at the club.

Gerrard, who is currently managing Al Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League, joined Villa after his success at Rangers in November 2021, but he was unable to keep his coaching career on an upward trajectory.

The Liverpool legend lasted just 11 months in the role, leaving at the start of the 2022/23 season with a record of six defeats in 11 games to start the campaign.

Villa then landed four-time Europa League winner Unai Emery, which proved to be a huge coup, with the Spaniard taking the team from relegation danger to seventh in the table.

Things are even better this season with the Villans fourth in the table, but club legend Gray wasn’t surprised to see such a sudden upturn.

“The whole place didn’t take a lot to make it happy,” he explained on beIN Sports. “With the previous incumbent it wasn’t a happy place at Villa Park at all.

Gray added: “It wasn’t a happy place, Bodymoor Heath was not a good place to be going training when Steven was there.”

Still in contact behind the scenes at the Birmingham side, Gray went on to praise Emery and his work throughout the campaign.

He continued: “I speak to people in the area and what he’s doing is, he tried four or five different systems during pre-season, and if you look at his teams he thinks about every game, and although he doesn’t make many changes, he does at the back depending on who he’s playing.

“He’s turned the whole thing around, I have to say. The Villa fans have bought into all this and they are loving what they’re seeing, it’s as simple as that.”