Tim Sherwood has revealed his delight to be back in football management with Aston Villa following his sacking from Tottenham.
The 46-year-old has been linked with a number of jobs in the Premier League, including recently with QPR, but has not been comfortable with any of the opportunities that have so far come his way.
Since his axing by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy at the end of last season the closest he has come to a return was with West Brom, who ultimately he declined after not being their number one target.
The former Blackburn and Spurs midfielder, who had been a coach at White Hart Lane since 2008 before taking the manager’s position in December 2013, oversaw 28 games during his five-month tenure – with him winning exactly half of those.
Despite actually having very little experience as a manager he has still managed to garner a strong reputation as someone capable of delivering – with him not shy in pointing out his achievements either, as he repeatedly did with Tottenham by highlighting the fact he had the highest win-ratio of any of their bosses in the Premier League era.
Sherwood’s own self-confidence and belief he deserves to be at a big club made his decision to accept the Villa job an easy one, despite their flirtation with relegation once again.
“It was an incredible opportunity. When the job came up, it was a no-brainer. It was about the club talking to me and fortunately they were impressed,” he told reporters.
“I’ve spoken to Randy Lerner briefly and Tom Fox at length about what we want to do. My plans for the next few months are different to my plans for the future. The tactics are simple – we have got to win matches.
“We have 13 cup finals left in the league and hopefully another one at Wembley. I will do everything I can to get this club over the line.”
Sherwood has also vowed to work his magic on misfiring striker Christian Benteke, who has only managed a meagre two Premier League goals this season, while looking a pale imitation of the player who was receiving envious glances from a number of top clubs around Europe.
Sherwood managed to get the best out of troublesome striker Emmanuel Adebayor after bringing him in from the cold after Andre Villas-Boas made him train with the development squad.
The challenge with Benteke will not be with attitude but the new Villa boss will still be confident of boosting the Belgian’s performances having succeeded where Villas-Boas and so far Mauricio Pochettino have failed with Adebayor.
“Christian is a handful and we need to get him firing again,” Sherwood continued. “He will be a big part of what we do but we’re not a one-man team.
“A couple of years ago, he was linked with the best clubs in the world and hopefully we can tap into that and he can recapture his form.
“There are big players here, and I need to get the best out of them.”
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