Dwight Yorke has hit out at the Aston Villa squad after the sacking of Steven Gerrard on Thursday night following a 3-0 defeat to Fulham in the Premier League.
The former Villa forward has claimed the Villa squad "threw Gerrard under the bus" after they beat Brentford 4-0 at Villa Park on Sunday following the sacking of the former Liverpool captain.
Yorke believes Gerrard's "bold move" to strip defender Tyrone Mings of the captaincy played a part in the dismissal of the Liverpool legend - one he clearly couldn't bounce back from.
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Former Arsenal boss Unai Emery has now been appointed as the new man in charge at Villa Park following a successful spell with Villarreal - taking the Yellow Submarine to a Champions League semi-final.
Yorke told Lord Ping : "The players literally threw him under the bus. I think that's really what that is. There's no other way. If you're looking from the outside, the same players, the same team, the same personnel, they're playing against a team in Brentford that are doing quite well and Villa gave them a hiding."
The ex-Villa and Manchester United forward spoke of Gerrard's decision to strip Mings as the captain as he gave the armband to John McGinn.
"I think the whole scenario at the beginning of the season didn't help. Gerrard’s comments about certain players and changing the captaincy," added Yorke. "When you make those bold moves, as a manager, you have to make sure that you have the rest of the dressing room performing for you.
"As a manager, you learn that in every club there will be players that you may not see fitting into your team or players or staff that you might have to get rid of, but you still have to manage these people. You still have to manage the organisation. It's a slow process. You might think, ‘oh, he's on a four year deal. I can't get rid of him. But because of his influence in the dressing room, you have to tread very carefully’.
"You have to manage everyone in a club. You have to be sensible towards the players that you might not necessarily want to keep because they could be disruptive. But I think that's what Steven Gerrard didn't do, looking from the outside. I didn't think he did that particularly and it backfired."
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