Championship boss distances himself from Aston Villa job in boost to Sunderland's rivals

Steven Gerrard was sacked at Villa Park earlier this week following a poor run of Premier League results which all came to a head in the Villans’ humbling loss to newly-promoted Fulham.

Liverpool and England legend Gerrard took over the reins at Aston Villa after boyhood fan Dean Smith was sacked last year. Gerrard swapped Rangers for Villa in November 2021 and lasted 11 months at the club before being sacked earlier this week.

Since the job became available, QPR boss Michael Beale had been strongly linked with the vacant role at Villa Park before distancing himself.

"No chance. Great club, great history, great people, good people behind the scenes,” Beale said when asked about the job.

"They’ve had two outstanding managers in the last two years and for whatever reason it hasn’t worked out so they may have to look at the way the club is run or the model. Is the recruitment all in line? There’s a lot of good people behind the scenes that have got a lot of despair at the moment.

"I feel for the fans because it’s a wonderful football club, but no, I gave my commitment here the other day. There’s certainly no interest on my part. A few of my friends have lost their jobs in the last few days."

The 42-year-old later took to Twitter to clarify his comments, as he wrote: "To clarify - AVFC is a wonderful club, I enjoyed my time there & wish them every success in the future. The players/staff were a pleasure to work with.

"The 'no chance' comment was in reference to my commitment to QPR and was in no way being disrespectful to anyone at Villa Park."

Managerless Villa currently sit in 17th place in the Premier League, just above the relegation zone after two wins so far this season. QPR under Beale have been going well in the Championship and are top of the league with 30 points from 16 games. Sunderland next play QPR in February.