Cape Town - Remi Garde says former owner Doug Ellis was right to say Aston Villa are going down although the club's French manager is still planning to fight to the end.
Garde's side have won three of 26 Premier League games this season and are bottom of the table, eight points from safety with 12 matches remaining.
Ellis, who sold the club to American Randy Lerner almost 10 years ago, told Sky Sports television on Wednesday "it's now a certainty that (Villa) will be in the Championship next year".
Garde agreed 24 hours later, saying: "He is right about his comments.
"The only thing is that until the last day we have the possibility of being safe ... I won't give up," he told a news conference ahead of Saturday's league trip to 10th-placed Stoke City.
Garde, who took over in November after Tim Sherwood was sacked, seemed to suggest he would not quit if 1982 European Cup winners Villa were relegated.
"It would be very weak in my position to say I am not responsible or I want to run away. I am not this kind of person," he said.