Aston Villa: Chairman Steve Hollis makes his expected departure from relegated club

Steve Hollis (left) brought Brian Little and David Bernstein (right) onto the Villa board

Aston Villa chairman Steve Hollis has made his expected departure from the relegated Premier League club following their takeover by Dr Tony Xia.

Hollis described Villa as being in "crisis" when appointed by previous owner Randy Lerner in January, claiming they were in "the worst position this club has been in for many a decade".

By then, Villa were already doomed to relegation to the Championship.

And Hollis has spent his five months at the helm budget-cutting in readiness.

His experience of seeing through big takeover deals from his time as Midlands regional chairman with accountants KPMG paved the way for Villa's £76m takeover by Chinese businessman Dr Xia.

There were also changes at boardroom level under the helm of Shropshire-born Hollis, as he attempted to shape the club's future direction.

Lord Mervyn King, the former governor of the Bank of England and a lifelong Villa fan, was brought in, along with former Villa player and manager Brian Little, former Football Association chairman David Bernstein and former FA executive Adrian Bevington.

But King and Bernstein resigned from the Villa board in April, two days after the club were relegated for the first time since the Premier League was formed, before Bevington followed in May.

Of those arrivals, only Little remains to help smooth in the arrival of Dr Xia, new chief executive Keith Wyness and new manager Roberto di Matteo.

BBC's Pat Murphy on the departure of Steve Hollis

"Steve Hollis was always scheduled to resign as chairman once Dr Tony Xia completed the formalities.

"In that time, Hollis presided over hundreds of redundancies, with the aim of making the club more financially viable to any prospective purchasers."

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