The former Aston Villa star mentioned how his relationship with his former boss was not exactly positive as he lost his captaincy.
An Aston Villa star in the past once had to lose his captaincy without any clear reason. The former England international, Darren Bent, once played for The Lions and had impressive form in his early days at Villa Park. Sadly, it turned sour as he lost his position as skipper just three weeks after being appointed by the new Villa boss in the 2012/13 season, Paul Lambert.
During an interview on In the Mixer, brought by Sky Bet, as reported by Birmingham Mail, the former Spurs man stated his situation at that time.
“We didn’t get on. It just turned overnight. So I’m on holiday, he got the job, and he’s calling me every two days to ask what happened last season and about the young players.
“He’s calling me asking what cars the young players are driving and if they are getting above their station. He was worrying about that. So I get in now to pre-season.
“I’m captain for the pre-season games and he’s asking me questions. After about two weeks or so, he officially made me captain. But, for whatever reason, it just changes.”
At the beginning of the 2012/13 season, he was named the skipper as the main captain, Stiliyan Petrov, had to undergo treatment for his leukemia. However, the Scottish boss somehow altered his decision. The former striker found out after asking his boss following his weird action as he stormed into the dressing room, flipped the board, and went out without a single word. Bent recalled that moment in the interview.
“I go and see him and he says to me, ‘Listen, you’re not going to play today, but with the captaincy, I think I’m going to give it to Ron Vlaar now. Because I want you to focus on scoring goals and that.’
“I walked out of there and my head’s gone. But Ron comes and finds me and goes, ‘Oh, has the boss spoken to you about the captaincy?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah he spoke to me like last week or the week before.’ So he hadn’t told me, but he’d told Ron for weeks that he was going to make him captain and not me. From that game, it’s never the same.”
Darren Bent joined Aston Villa in the second half of the 2010/11 season. He came from Sunderland for the then-record transfer fee of £24 million. He made an instant impact in Martin O’Neill’s team as he netted nine goals and provided one assist.
Bent even contributed well in tough games too. He bagged a brace in a 2-2 draw versus Everton and in a 2-1 win over Arsenal on the road.
In the following season, Alex McLeish was in charge of the team, and his form remained positive with 10 goals and one assist in 25 games. Unfortunately, he suffered an ankle injury which kept him out for the last 12 games of the season.
After he fell out of favour with Lambert, the forward with 13 international caps saw his form deteriorate and only scored five goals plus set up one in 23 appearances in all competitions before he was loaned out in the 2013/14 season to Fulham.
Bent was recalled to Villa Park in the second half of the 2014/15 season when Tim Sherwood replaced Lambert. Sadly, he failed to replicate his fine form from his early stint. He was sent on loan again to Championship sides Brighton and then Derby County, where he then signed for The Rams permanently in 2015. He stayed there until 2017, the same season when Villa was competing in the second tier.
The ex-striker with four international goals eventually moved on loan to another Championship team, Burton Albion, in the 2017/18 season. Bent finally hung up his boots at the end of the season after only scoring twice in 15 games there.
The post ‘We didn’t get on’, ex-Aston Villa star mentioned the relation with his boss as he lost his captaincy appeared first on AVillaFan.com – Aston Villa Fan Site.
