At long last the owners have acted.

But the sacking of Gerrard, as welcome as it is, has come 61 days too late.

It was clear after Palace that Gerrard was not just a poor manager but also a corrosive influence.

In that time we have thrown away 18 potential points.

Villa must learn from this.

Getting dismissals right is as important as appointments.

For too long Villa have held on to managers well past the point of no return allowing them to wreak unnecessary damage on the progress of the club, think Tommy Cummings, Graham Turner, David O’Leary, Paul Lambert even Steve Bruce.

If Villa are serious about moving up the League then we have to take the difficult decisions at the right times with objectivity.

It is now essential however that the last 12 months are swiftly forgotten.

We will do our utmost to never mention Gerrard again within these pages.

We must look forward, we must galvanise around a squad severely depleted and damaged by the now departed Gerrard and we must trust that NSWE, rather than Purslow, will be the final decision makers on the new appointment.

It is also essential that the entire backroom staff brought in by Gerrard should be sacked. All of the infantile rules jettisoned, the loan players recalled if they have a realistic long term future with the club, the substandard Gerrard imports shipped out as soon as practicably possible and a reimplementation of the culture of communication and togetherness that was a hallmark of Dean Smith’s far more successful tenure.

Villa could start mending bridges by reappointing the appallingly treated Mark Delaney as under 21s boss.

Then we really would be starting to get our club back.

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As part of the thankful departure we can consign to posterity some of our coverage of Gerrard’s inadequacies.

But if you ever need to gain a little perspective in future we’ll keep them for you below.

Adieu Stevie G, you will not be missed.