View: Tim Sherwood and his bittersweet stint as Aston Villa manager
Did Tim Sherwood get half the credit he deserved during his stint as manager at Aston Villa?
The ex-Tottenham Hotspur boss is remembered for his straight-talking, no-nonsense approach to coaching, which helped guide the club away from a near-certain relegation in 2014/15.
When Sherwood was appointed as Villa manager in February 2015 in place of Paul Lambert, he was given one clear brief – keeping Villa in the Premier League.
The Villans had gone on a winless run of 10 games under Lambert in which they scored just two goals. They sat rock bottom and ten points away from safety when they handed over the reins to Sherwood. Who knows why he took the poisoned chalice, but he definitely got the most out of the players at his disposal.
The dramatic return to form that followed his appointment was quite astonishing. Sherwood got his side playing with belief, swagger and a clinical edge that had been lacking at the club ever since Martin O’Neill’s departure almost five years previously.
Talismanic striker Christian Benteke also found his goalscoring boots under the English manager. The Belgian scored 11 of his 13 goals that campaign under Sherwood, netting memorably in wins over West Brom, Tottenham and Sunderland.
Sherwood’s faith in his players paid off, as Villa amassed 38 points and stayed up.
The FA Cup was not even seen as a priority when Lambert was given the boot. Still, Sherwood navigated his way to the final, defeating the likes of Leicester City and, notably, Liverpool in the semi-final, along the way.
Nothing will ever take away from that performance – and tactical masterplan from Sherwood – in the semi-final at Wembley. A smaller footnote of the day was a brilliant performance of an exuberant teenager by the name of Jack Grealish.
An away day at Wembley was a just reward for the ex-Blackburn Rovers player, who worked wonders with a squad that was destined for relegation before his arrival in the West Midlands.
The coming months were where it all started to go wrong for the now-Soccer Saturday pundit. After masterminding the club’s relegation survival and finishing 17th in the league, he lost his four best players – Ron Vlaar, Tom Cleverley, Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke – and did not receive the funding to replace them.
Sherwood never really stood a chance, and the way his reputation was tarnished following his sacking wasn’t justified.
Just five months after the FA Cup final loss to Arsenal, Sherwood was given the boot.
The signs were clear for all to see in the summer as the Villa manager was at war with the head of scouting and recruitment Paddy Riley, who snapped up the un-exposed trio of Adama Traore, Jordan Veretout and Jordan Amavi as their marquee signings.
He lasted just two months of the 2015/16 season and was replaced as manager by Remi Garde on 25 October 2015.
Considering Villa only went on to win two more league games that season – finishing rock bottom in the process – the brilliant job Sherwood did in his short stint at the club goes very much under the radar.
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