Gary Neville lays into Aston Villa for how club handled Steven Gerrard's sacking

Gary Neville was not at all impressed by the manner of Steven Gerrard's sacking as Aston Villa head coach, calling it "a joke".

Gerrard lost his job after Villa slumped to a 3-0 defeat away to Fulham on Thursday night – and it's since been reported that he was told of the decision while still at Craven Cottage, before travelling back to Birmingham with the players on the team coach.

It sounded like a rather brutal way for Gerrard's time in charge of Villa to end – and Neville couldn't quite believe what he'd heard.

Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast for Sky Sports, the Manchester United legend said:

"I am not quite sure as to the logic of the Villa ownership and the Villa decision-makers to sack a manager knowing he's got a journey [of] two or three hours on a bus. Let's be clear: as owners, we're all liable for criticism when we sack a manager, and I've been criticised for that [Neville co-owns League Two club Salford City].

"But come on! Doing it immediately after a game, when you know that the manager has to travel back with his staff and players... I mean, that is a joke. Can you imagine that bus?! The only thing you can do is crack a few beers open and get on it; I think that's the only thing you can do. That [the timing of Gerrard's sacking] was the one thing I thought was bad from Villa's point of view."

Gerrard's almost 12-month tenure at Villa will go down as a pretty miserable one – he lost almost half of his games at the helm – but the Liverpool icon has been backed by current Reds boss Jurgen Klopp to continue carving out a career in management.

As for Villa, Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim is the current bookies' favourite to take over at Villa Park. That's after former Tottenham chief Mauricio Pochettino ruled himself out.