Villa appoints new chairman as struggling club in need of “shake up”

Aston Villa earned just their second victory of the Premier League season on Tuesday, defeating Crystal Palace to end a 157 day winless drought.

Despite the result, Villa still sits glued to the bottom of the table with 11 points through 21 matches and looking destined for relegation.

[ MORE: Sunderland signs N’Doye ]

With the club struggling so mightily, American owner Randy Lerner has stepped down from his role as chairman and appointed Steven Hollis to take over the position.

Hollis has a strong business background, and with Lerner based in the U.S., he believes Hollis’ connections in the area will help bring stability and growth to the club.

The club released an official statement on Wednesday where Lerner said Villa has been in a bad position “for at least five years,” and that he believes Hollis is the right man for the job.

That Aston Villa can and should operate in a far more stable and on a far more successful level, both in terms of football as well as commercially, is plainly clear. It is similarly clear that this great club has not been on stable footing for at least five years. In May of 2015 I again reiterated my intention to sell the Club or, in the alternative, to shift to a Board governance structure that begins with the appointment of a new Chairman; a Chairman with a proven track record for getting into the thick of troubled organisations, working with embattled executives and getting results. Steve has taken the last six weeks to become familiar with the deeply serious predicament in which the Club has found itself and has my total support to address the issues we face.

Hollis would go on to say that “money no longer buys success,” and that a “winning culture” must be brought to Villa Park both on and off the pitch.

[ MORE: Could the USMNT’s Alejandro Bedoya be headed for Colorado? ]

The first order of business for Hollis will be to facilitate some transfers in January, as manager Remi Garde has been eager to bring more talent to the club. Surviving the drop looks very unlikely, but in this wild Premier League season, you never know.