Aston Villa owner Tony Xia has admitted that it was a "difficult decision" to sack manager Roberto Di Matteo, but it had to be made 'sooner rather than later'.

The Midlands outfit announced the departure of Di Matteo this morning after the 46-year-old guided the team to just one win in 11 Championship matches.

The former midfielder, who won the Champions League as Chelsea manager in 2012, was in charge of the Villans for just 124 days, and he leaves the club in 19th position in the league.

After the official announcement was made, Xia tweeted: "A difficult decision 4the board. But rather sooner than later we'd make the decision. All need learn&repeat mistakes again&again."

Xia also responded to a tweet asking if he intended to walk away from the club. The Chinese businessman said: "No way. I had much harder experience going through to get final success in other business. A small scratch won't change our plans."

Villa were relegated to the second tier from the Premier League last season.