Journalist Luke Hatfield reckons that the "majority" of Aston Villa supporters were hoping Dean Smith would turn things around.

What's the latest news with Smith?

Less than two days after Villa suffered their fifth Premier League defeat on the bounce, the 50-year-old was sacked.

In just under three years, Smith took the club from midtable in the Championship to an 11th-place finish in the top-flight last term.

But Villa have struggled to cope with the loss of Jack Grealish this season and despite spending close to £100m in the summer window, are just two points above the relegation-zone.

The final straw for Smith proved Friday's 1-0 defeat at Southampton when Villa were made to pay for another poor first-half performance and were unable to end their losing run despite an improved second-half showing.

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Smith leaves Villa 16th in the Premier League table, which is their lowest league position since they survived on the final day of the 2019-2020 campaign at West Ham.

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ENTER GIVEAWAY

But Hatfield thinks that many of the Villa Park faithful were backing the boyhood Villa fan to turn results around.

What did Hatfield say?

He told GIVEMESPORT: "I think the majority of Villa fans and everyone at the club were hoping he turned it around because he's a much-admired man at Villa Park, his dad works as a steward at the club. No one wanted him to leave on a sour note, they were all backing him."

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Should Smith have been given more time?

Five Premier League defeats in a row is not a good look for Smith, but we're only 11 games into the season.

Furthermore, whilst Villa have clearly not been performing to the required level, Smith needed more time for his new signings to gel together and find their form.

Someone like Leon Bailey for example, has hardly featured since signing from Bayer Leverkusen, whilst he's had to deal with several players out of form, a number of injuries and one of his most trusted players like Ezri Konsa getting sent off last weekend.

But Villa's poor run of results isn't a recent thing, they've been struggling throughout the calendar year.
Their slender defeat at St Mary's was their 18th in 37 games – with only nine victories in that period, which means he's essentially paid the price for almost 12 months of bad results.