When Aston Villa appointed Alex McLeish, it was a dark day for more than one reason. On appointing Paul Lambert it was a hopeful one, after all he'd only had one season in the Premier League and had done very little to demonstrate things were going to go in the right direction. And for those who are visiting for the first time, this isn't hindsight.
On appointing Tim Sherwood, Aston Villa have basically gone all in on a manager and made it a very nervous day and for several reasons. There is no point listing them but with 22 games under his belt as a football manager, I think it's clear that this is a big gamble.
However, I did write that if we were safe or it was the start of a new season, then I'd have no problem with Tim Sherwood (even if I still see it as as sort of gamble given his experience in the game) and now the decision has been made, we have to get behind him and hope that all the stories are not true or new manager syndrome has an instant impact.
He might be wiser than I give him credit for
And you know what, had we appointed any number of managers on a short term contract to keep us up, I'd have felt a lot more confident, because we do have a very good squad and we do have the games coming up that we can win and pick up the points necessary to stay in the League, so just because he comes across as a wide boy and has very little experience, doesn't mean that he can't get us out of this mess.
And you know what, I don't think it's that difficult. Okay that's going to read strange, but I don't think it's difficult in context, with a manager that has the experience. Which is why Tim Sherwood was nowhere near a list of managers that I would have thought they'd have brought in to do this job.
I hope he is wiser than I give him credit for
So we have to hope that he has what it takes to keep us up. And if he does it will mean that he's got something about him or new manager syndrome kicked in. We'll never really know for sure and it will only be after he second full season that we'll know if there is anything about him, so lets just hope he keeps us up first, because that is the only thing that matters right now.
But there is something you can't help but like about Sherwood. Sure he's a jack the lad type and he does appear to have a different perspective on things and maybe that's what is needed these days. I imagine it will be very easy to like him and I hope I do. Which makes it more important that he doesn't say silly things, is always honest and knows when to keep his mouth shut, even if his heart is telling his head he has to talk.
But I will write this, on the day Sherwood was announced; if it goes wrong, knowing everything that we know right now, Tom Fox will have to go. You can't tell supporters one thing and do something else, you can't tell supporters that their opinion counts for nothing and finally, if it does go wrong, you can't get away with gambling the Football Club.