There’s a key figure at Aston Villa the majority of supporters might never have heard of – and his name is Jeremy Oliver.
Dean Smith heaped praise on the performance development department during his sit-down chat discussing how players have been getting on.
Smith said: “There’s an element of trust but we’ve also got a really good performance development department headed up by Jez Oliver and his team. They’re keeping on top of the players, we’re in regular contact.
“I’m speaking to the coaching staff, two, three four times a week and to the performance department as well.
“The players are all sending in the RPEs from the work that they’ve done.
“Some of the players have had watt bikes sent out to them, some have got treadmills, some have got skill-mills. They’ve all got gym equipment so they’re all following their individual programmes.
“To be honest, speaking to our performance department and the players, the compliance has been excellent and that’s all you can ask for at this time.”
Oliver, meanwhile, is a bit of a mystery man. He arrived at Aston Villa from his homeland in Australia at the end of the 2017/18 campaign and oversees the whole of the medical and performance department.
Throughout Villa’s pre-season in the States and back home, Oliver was a prominent figure, often seen pitch-side talking to Villa’s newest recruits.
Oliver is right up there with the likes of Smith, chief executive Christian Purslow and sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch in terms of prominence.
His performance team consists of Aman Singh Shergill, the recent recruit from Birmingham City’s who’s Villa’s physical performance scientist.
Elsewhere, Oliver works closely with David Stewart, head of performance analysis, and other analysts, Joseph Ure and Scott Adey-Linforth, the former joining from Spurs in April last year.
As for Oliver, he’s often beside Smith, John Terry and Richard O’Kelly during training sessions at Bodymoor Heath while, on match-days, is sat in the stands watching from above rather than on the bench.
The Aussie was the man behind introducing pyrotechnics to Villa Park before key clashes while, last season, joined in the dressing room celebrations as Villa were promoted.
As mentioned, Smith relies heavily on the man he calls Jez who feeds information on his players back to the head coach.
Who is Jez Oliver? The mystery Aston Villa man name-dropped by Dean Smith - Birmingham Live
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