Aston Villa have drawn a line under Steven Gerrard 's time as manager just 11 months after he walked away from the top job at Rangers.
Gerrard left Ibrox off the back of an unbeaten league campaign and lifting the Scottish Premiership title as Rangers brought an end to Celtic's dominance of the top flight. However, after lifting one trophy in Scotland he opted to make the move to the ruthless English Premier League and take over from Dean Smith with the club sitting in 15th in the table. A union between an ambitious manager and a club with designs of gatecrashing the big six.
After the heavy 3-0 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage Aston Villa sit in 17th in the table having won just two games so far this term, and only remain outside of the relegation zone on goal difference. Following his departure some fans south of the border have claimed the Liverpool icon should have remained at Rangers to continue to learn rather than make the risky move to The Villains 11 months ago.
However, at the time Gerrard explained that he wanted to leave Scotland to work with "elite footballers" in the Premier League. Following his Ibrox exit, he said: "I understand that there will be noise and opinion on the outside and people will put two and two together to come up with whatever they want to but for me it is about the now.
"I am happy here, I want to be here and I decided to take this challenge on. It was an opportunity I couldn't turn down for two main reasons: one, being back in the Premier League with the size of the club, to challenge myself against the best and working with elite footballers.
"And, from a geographical point of view, to be close to my kids. I committed everything I had to the Rangers project and we did a very good job up there but for me it was about the next challenge, the opportunity to come back into the Premier League."
However, working with those elite footballers proved to cause Gerrard nothing but problems. The Tyrone Mings saga proved to be a turning point in Gerrard's tenure, after he stripped Mings of the captain's armband.
Scotland international John McGinn was appointed captain instead, but Mings form never recovered following the changes in the summer. The handling of the situation led to heavy criticism from pundits, especially after an injury to summer recruit Diego Carlos forced Gerrard to rely on the England cap.
Recruiting "elite" players also hasn't worked out for the boss, with old pal Philippe Coutinho's transfer sparking criticism from the punters. After his loan spell last term the Brazilian was the big-name recruit of the Gerrard era.
Since he has made the move from Barcelona permanent, he has not scored or chipped in with any assists. The wish to work top level talent has contributed to the unravelling of Gerrard's Villa tenure despite his high hopes when leaving Rangers.
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