Football Insider have shared the real reason why Richard O’Kelly has left his role at Aston Villa.

The Lowdown: Club announcement

Villa, who have already lost John Terry this summer, confirmed last week that O’Kelly left his position as Aston Villa assistant manager.

The 64-year-old, hailed as an ‘unsung hero’, departed just days before Villa’s Premier League opener, with no real reason as to why he parted ways with the club.

Dean Smith was coy when quizzed on the announcement, with Villa now expected to appoint a new assistant to work alongside Smith and Craig Shakespeare with interviews ongoing.

The Latest: Source shares insight

Football Insider shared a story on Wednesday after being informed by an Aston Villa source.

They revealed that O’Kelly quit after the club tried to demote him to coaching Villa’s Under-23 side.

O’Kelly had no intentions to depart Bodymoor Heath prior to Villa’s U23 plans and offered his resignation after learning the news.

The Verdict: Strange

With Terry leaving earlier in the summer, you’d have thought that Smith would have relied on O’Kelly, who he has worked with for ten years, even more during the upcoming campaign.

That was obviously not the case, going off the latest report, so it’ll be interesting to see who the club bring in to replace O’Kelly - if they were planning to demote him, perhaps they already had an alternative for the first-team lined up?

Villa have already added a set-piece coach in Austin MacPhee this summer and it appears as if another backroom staff addition will materialise soon.

In other news: 'We’ll win the league' - Lots of AVFC fans flock to Ward-Prowse update.