Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow has opened up on the decision to sack Steven Gerrard as manager in October, admitting their time together at Liverpool made the call more difficult.
Gerrard was relieved of his duties at Villa Park having won just 12 of his 38 games after succeeding Dean Smith in November 2021 following a wildly successful stint at Rangers where he beat Celtic to the Scottish Premiership title with 102 points having gone the entire season without defeat.
The legendary former Liverpool captain's spell at Villa Park was a disappointing one however and his replacement, Unai Emery, has since taken the Villans up to fifth in the Premier League.
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Purslow, who served as Liverpool's chief executive between June 2009 and October 2010, was the man responsible for removing Gerrard from his post at Villa, which was a call that wasn't taken lightly he explained, in a chat with Sky News' Beth Rigby.
"I supported Liverpool," Purslow says in a wide-ranging interview to be broadcast at 9pm on Thursday evening. "I was a third generation - my grandparents and my father were from Liverpool and Liverpool fans. And so, like many, many football fans in the country, one grows up as a kid, following in your dad's footsteps.
"Yes, it was [a difficult decision]. It was very tough. He's a very good person I've known for a long time. When I was at Liverpool, he was the captain of the club. But, my priority is Aston Villa, and doing the right thing for our club, and it hadn’t worked out.
"Steven would be the first to admit that. You have to do the right thing. The board thought about things. I think we let things ride for a while and then made that tough decision and moved on."
Purslow also dismissed the suggestion he would have signed up for the controversial Super League had he still been at Anfield, adding: "Let's remember, I'm the chief executive of the club.
"My job is to be the eyes and ears of ownership on the ground. And I would have told my owners that our fans will not approve of a concept that goes against the very essence of English football for the last 150 years.
"I think [the Super League] is dead, and that is because, again, in the wake of it and I mentioned this when we were talking earlier about a different example of a crisis in football, crises tend to galvanise administrators.
"The reaction to the Super League in all levels of football was profound. Within the Premier League, Beth, we initiated rules. Black and white rules, an owners' charter, that makes it quite explicit, if any executive of any club tries to enter an unregulated tournament going forward, that club will suffer huge points deductions."
Watch Aston Villa’s Chief Executive, Christian Purslow, on the Beth Rigby Interviews… show 9pm Thursday 27th April on Sky News, or catch up with the Beth Rigby Interviews… podcast
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