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Comment: Dean Smith remained true to his ideals during high-profile Aston Villa unveiling

Dean Smith has always taken pride in staying calm and measured, and his first public appearance as Villa boss certainly saw him stay true to those ideals.

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During 30 years in the game, he can rarely have experienced anything quite like the line of cameras, the rows of reporters and flashes of a dozen cameras which greeted his arrival at Villa Park.

Yet throughout, Smith remained Smith, delivering clear and concise answers with the odd bit of humour thrown in.

Now, of course, comes the tricky part.

If there is one job in English football which can make even the most level-headed lose their sanity, then it is surely Villa. Smith, after all, is the eighth man to take charge of the club in a little over the same number of years. Making a success of things in B6 has proven far from easy.

But this is also challenge he is walking into with his eyes wide open. Much has, understandably, been made of his long association with the club as a supporter, with a love for the game nurtured on the Holte End terrace.

Smith, however, was quick to make clear he is not some starry-eyed fan who came running the moment his boyhood club called. Leaving a good job at Brentford took some serious thought.

“For me this was not an emotional decision. It was a totally rational one,” he said. “The emotions come from the rest of the family and friends.”

When asked, Smith couldn’t say precisely how many messages of congratulations and support he has received since his appointment was confirmed last Wednesday, though it would be fair to say they run some way into the hundreds.

His background will certainly buy a little more time with supporters, but he is alive to the importance of delivering quick results.

“I think a lot of people are pleased there is a local lad has been appointed,” he said. “But I try to remind them I have earned this seat, through a lot of hours and a lot of games.”

Now nearly eight years into a management career which began on a caretaker basis at Walsall, Smith has confidence in his ability and methods but also a desire to keep learning and explore new ideas.

That in part proved motivation for his decision to bring John Terry into his coaching team. The five-time Premier League winner’s return to Villa Park just five months after he departed as a player was always going to be a hot topic. Smith’s answers to the obvious questions left no doubt as to his rationale or that he is the man ultimately running the show.

The head coach wasn’t the only man speaking publicly for the first time yesterday. Christian Purslow, Villa’s new chief executive, sat alongside him during the unveiling and was quizzed, albeit briefly, on the club’s position with regards to Financial Fair Play.

Terry and Smith’s long-time assistant, Richard O’Kelly, took only a watching brief. So too did new sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch.

The presence of so many new faces underlined the fact that for Villa, Smith’s arrival represents yet another fresh start. How well he and the other four men work together in the coming months and years will determine whether they can be the ones to finally deliver some much-sought success.