Phil Silvers Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 Think this from the OS needs posting here to hopefully put everyone at ease to whether there are problems in camp. From the tone of this I'd say no chance. I'm guessing that it is probably for personal reasons only. Aston Villa can confirm that Richard O’Kelly has decided to leave his position within the Bodymoor Heath coaching staff. Richard joined the club as Assistant Head Coach with Dean Smith from Brentford in October 2018. Richard said: “Over the past three years I have had the tremendous privilege of being part of the progression of Aston Villa Football Club. The investment by the owners in the state-of-the art facilities and recruitment in all areas has set the standards for Aston Villa to be a top club and achieve even greater success in the years to come. “I have hugely enjoyed my time here; one of my favourite aspects of the job has been working with the talented and driven backroom team. There is a fantastic culture amongst the staff who have all shown the ability to pull together in the same direction and support each other, including through some challenging times. This is mirrored by the group of young ambitious players and more experienced role models that now form the first team squad, as well as the staff at the vibrant academy who create the perfect environment for the stars of tomorrow. “I have witnessed first-hand Dean’s excellent leadership and coaching skills. He is a top manager and I will take with me great memories of working with him and the other coaches. I am very grateful to the club and its wonderful fans for their support and will enjoy continuing to follow the Villa on its journey.” Dean Smith said: “Richard has worked with me for the best part of a decade and we have always had a really close relationship. We are friends as well as colleagues and I will miss him. I would like to thank him on a personal level for the dedication and support he has always given me and on behalf of everyone at Aston Villa we wish him all the very best for the future.” 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid4ever Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 54 minutes ago, thabucks said: Not sure what the faux drama is about ROK leaving … could be for a plethora of reasons Thanks that means a lot 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 3 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said: He is a top manager and I will take with me great memories Nice to see that ROK wrote that himself and not the PR people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wezbid Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 Like mentioned previously, the timing isn't odd if he wanted to help us get prepared through pre-season, even less odd if his contract has come to an end. Perhaps he's been mulling it over all summer. It's not something you just leave easily. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferguson1 Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 Perhaps time for Delaney and/or Jedinak to step up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 minute ago, ferguson1 said: Perhaps time for Delaney and/or Jedinak to step up? I wouldn't like to lose Delaney from the youth setup now. It is all going really well at the moment and I wouldn't like to upset the applecart. Does Jedi coach? I thought he just looked after our players out on loan to monitor their progress? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 14 minutes ago, Mazrim said: I think we're levelling up our backroom staff. In what way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuwabatake Sanjuro Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 3 minutes ago, ferguson1 said: Perhaps time for Delaney and/or Jedinak to step up? Sean Verity either maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QldVilla Posted August 12, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted August 12, 2021 Coaching isn’t easy especially at an elite level, after 30 + years maybe he just got to the point where he wanted to take a step back or have a break and his contract being up was an opportunity to do so. Wish him well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Silvers Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 6 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said: Nice to see that ROK wrote that himself and not the PR people I know that you're just a cartoon but that is rather cynical. I think we've learnt enough about Deano and R'OK that they are genuine good guys and neither would allow that. Now go and have some ice cream and chill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 13 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said: Think this from the OS needs posting here to hopefully put everyone at ease to whether there are problems in camp. From the tone of this I'd say no chance. I'm guessing that it is probably for personal reasons only. Aston Villa can confirm that Richard O’Kelly has decided to leave his position within the Bodymoor Heath coaching staff. Richard joined the club as Assistant Head Coach with Dean Smith from Brentford in October 2018. Richard said: “Over the past three years I have had the tremendous privilege of being part of the progression of Aston Villa Football Club. The investment by the owners in the state-of-the art facilities and recruitment in all areas has set the standards for Aston Villa to be a top club and achieve even greater success in the years to come. “I have hugely enjoyed my time here; one of my favourite aspects of the job has been working with the talented and driven backroom team. There is a fantastic culture amongst the staff who have all shown the ability to pull together in the same direction and support each other, including through some challenging times. This is mirrored by the group of young ambitious players and more experienced role models that now form the first team squad, as well as the staff at the vibrant academy who create the perfect environment for the stars of tomorrow. “I have witnessed first-hand Dean’s excellent leadership and coaching skills. He is a top manager and I will take with me great memories of working with him and the other coaches. I am very grateful to the club and its wonderful fans for their support and will enjoy continuing to follow the Villa on its journey.” Dean Smith said: “Richard has worked with me for the best part of a decade and we have always had a really close relationship. We are friends as well as colleagues and I will miss him. I would like to thank him on a personal level for the dedication and support he has always given me and on behalf of everyone at Aston Villa we wish him all the very best for the future.” A nice parting statement......but still not clear why. Maybe we won't know for a reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 31 minutes ago, Junxs said: Very strange, his parting message seems very kind with his words on the official website.. so I don't think there's anything untoward Just the timing of it, especially with JT having left a couple of weeks ago, seems very very odd not trying to be cynical....but kind words are standard stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazrim Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 (edited) 47 minutes ago, Tayls said: In what way? Hiring more specialist coaches. It's the done thing In America for instance and can work just as well in Football too. You have coaches that will work with just offensive linemen, linebackers, backs, wide receivers, cornerbacks etc. Rather than general coaches. You need guys to have an overview too, like head coaches and assistant coaches. I think it's the way it's going. We have hired a set piece coach for instance. Edited August 12, 2021 by Mazrim 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said: I know that you're just a cartoon but that is rather cynical There is no cynicism in that whatsoever. Many clubs put out these type of messages which are written by the PR team and approved by the person. As ROK referred to DS as a manager that shows it was not written by the PR dept, they would have called him a coach. I thought it was nice that ROK referred to him as 'manager' as it shows the relationship they had over many many years Edited August 12, 2021 by Peter Griffin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Silvers Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 minute ago, Peter Griffin said: There is no cynicism in that whatsoever. Many clubs out out these type of messages which are written by the PR team and approved by the person. As ROK referred to DS as a manager that shows it was not written by the PR dept, they would have called him a coach. I thought it was nice that ROK referred to him as 'manager' as it shows the relationship they had over many many years Well said Peter, I was being rather tongue in cheek myself. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 24 minutes ago, LondonLax said: He still could have announced it at the end of the season, it’s a weird thing to do. Maybe he did? We don't know what conversations happen behind closed doors. It's news to us, it may very well have been known by Smith et al weeks or months ago. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 25 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said: His contract expired today And villa didn't want or offer to renew it ? So today went like this :- Hey Rich Just noticed your contract expires today ? ROK - ho hum - won't be in tommorow then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 May Austin MacPhee is going to be more than a set piece coach, at Hearts, FC Midtjylland, Northern Ireland, and all his previous other clubs he's been an assistant coach. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 31 minutes ago, LondonLax said: Why didn’t he do that at the end of the season instead of two days before the start of the new one? That’s a bit weird. Maybe he wanted to get everyone ready for the season before he left. He’s worked with them and prepared them for the opening game. He’s done his bit 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 minute ago, hippo said: And villa didn't want or offer to renew it ? So today went like this :- Hey Rich Just noticed your contract expires today ? ROK - ho hum - won't be in tommorow then I have no insider info, but I would expect what happened was they've talked about it at the end of the season, he made Smith and Lange aware he was ready to step back, and continued to support and help the new and existing coaches until his contract expired. It would be quite unusual for them to announce a coach resigning months in advance, so they let us know when he finished, but I very much doubt it was a surprise to anyone at Bodymoore. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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