Tim Sherwood sacked as Aston Villa boss

Aston Villa has sacked Tim Sherwood as boss after just eight months

Struggling Aston Villa have dispensed with the services of boss Tim Sherwood after the Villans suffered a 2-1 defeat at home to Swansea on Saturday.

The sacking probably came as little surprise with the team on a terrible run of form.

Confirmation

Sherwood’s sacking was announced on the clubs official website, which read: “The board has monitored the performances closely all season and believes the results on the pitch were simply not good enough and that a change is imperative.

“However, the club would like to place on record its sincere thanks to Tim for all his efforts during a difficult period last season and for the many positive contributions he has made to the entire football set-up during his time with the club.

“We wish him well in the future. A search for a new manager has commenced and the squad will be managed in the interim by Kevin MacDonald.”

Dreadful

Villa’s results this season in the top-flight have been dreadful. The side from the Midlands has suffered six consecutive defeats in the Premier League and lost eight of their ten top-flight games this season.

The defeat coupled with Sunderland beating Newcastle 3-0 in the north east derby has seen the side from the Midlands drop to the bottom of the Premier League table.

Sherwood won just six of his 23 Premier League games in charge of the Villans and lost 15, although five of those wins contributed to the Villans surviving the drop last season.

Changes

One of the main factors that worked against Sherwood at Villa was the number of changes in the clubs playing staff in the summer. He was eager to make wholesale changes to his playing staff after a series of poor seasons. Maybe that enthusiasm for change rather prevented a successful recruitment drive.

The loss of star striker Christian Benteke and central midfielder Fabian Delph were key. Both players had release clauses in their contracts, so there was little Sherwood could do as Liverpool and Manchester City respectively came to poach the pair.

That meant Sherwood not only had to strengthen his squad in other areas, but replace two of the only quality players the club had in their squad. The result was a whole new team of players arriving at Villa and not great quality ones either.

It would be difficult to claim that any of those new signings have been successes this season so far, maybe it would be slightly early in their Villa careers to judge the new players.

The new group of players have yet to gel with the existing Villa players and the team’s results have reflected that fact.

Confident

Tim Sherwood comes across as a confident guy, but maybe that confidence is misplaced in his own managerial experience. At Tottenham he did a decent job and seemed to have a growing reputation in coaching circles.

However, he came across as a guy who believed that he had already made it as a Premier League boss, despite the lack of top-flight experience.

Hierarchy

The Villa owner Randy Lerner seems to have decided to withdraw his financial support from the Villans. The money spent in the summer was mostly recouped by the sales of Benteke and Delph.

In truth the Villans have been stagnating for years now, as their only quality players have left due to the club lacking of any sort of ambition. The lack of any real ambition has saw them fighting what seems like an annual relegation battle.

Favourite

Villa will be looking to appoint a new boss relatively quickly and former Manchester United boss David Moyes is current favourite to be the next Villans boss at odds of 7/1.

The Scot has stated recently that he wished to see out his short-term contract at Spanish club Real Sociedad that expires this summer. La Real have just ended a poor run of form with a 4-0 away win at Levante.

The likes of Nigel Pearson, Brendan Rodgers and Bob Bradley have also been mentioned as possible candidates.

Difficult

Whoever takes over at Villa faces a very difficult task in resurrecting the Villans fortunes this season and bringing the players together. The side from the Midlands are current rock-bottom of the Premier League.

Question marks remain over the quality of the Villa squad. Sometimes a new boss can give a team fresh life and Villa are in major need of inspiration, which unfortunately for him Tim Sherwood could not give them.

Was it the right decision to sack Tim Sherwood?