Aston Villa boss Remi Garde on why he snubbed Sam Allardyce handshake
Saturday 2 January 2016 18:38, UK
Remi Garde revealed he did not shake Sam Allardyce's hand after Aston Villa's 3-1 defeat by Sunderland because the Black Cats boss had not welcomed the Frenchman prior to the match.
Garde's Villa are firmly rooted at the bottom of the Premier League table, and went down to a Jermain Defoe double at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
They remain 11 points from safety and Garde, without a win in nine games as Villa boss, admits his reaction may have been down to the result.
After walking down the tunnel without shaking Allardyce's hand, Garde told Sky Sports: "I would have preferred that Mr Allardyce would have come to me before the game and say hello.
"Just a sign of welcome, but I don't want to do too much, I was upset probably by the result, but that's it, that's all."
When asked if it was his decision not to shake hands with Allardyce because the Sunderland boss had not seen him before the game, Garde said: "Yes, of course, of course."
Villa are still without a win since the opening day of the Premier League season, 19 games ago, but Garde says that while there is still hope of surviving, his players will continue to fight.
"It's a big disappointment of course, like every defeat. I think we didn't play so badly. The team were very close in terms of level, and we didn't score enough goals, and conceded too many, it's as simple as that.
"I'm not fed up, I'm just trying to do my job as best as possible every day, every minute. But today, like my players I am disappointed because we didn't expect to lose here.
"We created some opportunities, but like every time we needed to be more efficient.
"You cannot say that the confidence has grown with this result, but we still have life in front of us. While there is light in front of us we still believe."
