Bookies hint on a potential new manager for Aston Villa job

Two new candidates have emerged to potentially take over from Steve Bruce who was sacked from the club six days ago.

A number of names have been linked to the job over the past week including Belgium’s assistant coach Thierry Henry, x Manchester United & Everton manager David Moyes and former England and Chelsea centre-back John Terry. However, all of those claims seem to have been dismissed. It was previously reported that Henry and Terry could link up as a duo with Terry being Henry’s number two at Villa but Henry has since been linked to replace Leonardo Jardim at the Frenchman’s former side Monaco which has caused the bookies such as BetVictor to lengthen his odds to a long 33/1.

Dean Smith remains the bookies odds-on favourite but the odds on Rui Faria landing the job have been slashed to just evens by some bookies, hinting that the Manchester United assistant could be in the running to take over.

It is understood that the clubs owners would ideally want Faria as number one with Terry as his number two but initial reports are that Faria is unsure on the role.

Should Faria have a change of heart, there are still some bookies offering tasty odds with William Hill still offering 20/1 on the Portuguese football coach taking charge compared to odds at SportPesa of just evens (1/1).

Stan Collymore, however, believes there is an even better candidate for the job. The former forward who played for Villa between 1997-2000, took to social media to show his support for Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.

On Tuesday, Collymore tweeted to his 877,000 followers a response to his thoughts on Rodgers joining Villa:

Perfect. Super coach, managed at two huge clubs,track record of finding young gems in/out of club, front foot football, knows league. A complete and utter no brainer if due diligence is part of Villa process. Our 3 owners have zero clue about football recruitment. Zero. Fact.

Rodgers is having a tough season at Celtic where they currently sit third in the league, failing to win 3 or their 8 opening games and has also been linked to replace Jose Mourinho at Manchester United, although the pressure on Mourinho was eased after their comeback win against Newcastle United last weekend.

Bookmakers current have Rodgers as sixth favourite at between odds of 12/1 and 25/1.

Who do you think will land the Villa job?