Aston Villa boss Garde to be backed in January transfer window

Aston Villa chief executive Tom Fox says Remi Garde will be given the funds to bring in players during the January transfer market.

Garde took over the reins at Villa Park last month, after Tim Sherwood was sacked, but the side remain bottom of the Premier League, eight points adrift of safety.

With of the criticisms of Sherwood was the impact – or lack of – of his 13 summer signings, although the former Spurs manager suggested he was not given the final say on transfers.

“If he decides he needs something he has the chairman’s ear and his support,” Fox said.

“Remi has only been here five games. My job is to assist him when he decides there is something he might need.”

After Liverpool’s infamous ‘transfer committee’, clubs’ transfer strategies are now under more scrutiny than ever.

Fox, sporting director Hendrik Almstadt and director of scouting Paddy Riley all involved in the recruitment at Villa.

“People who are critical of the process I don’t think quite understand how football clubs buy and sell players,” Fox told BBC WM

“We didn’t do anything this summer that any other club in the world doesn’t do.

“We identified the needs our manager thought he had – we challenged some of those, which led to great discussion – and we tried to create a list of acceptable options, in the event your first choice wasn’t available you had other people you could target.

“There was never a sense there was a group of people who were trying to make decisions that weren’t supported fully by the coaching staff.”