Well, here we are. Saturday afternoon and it's a huge three points for Tim Sherwood. It's not as if this will define his season or that it's even six points, it's just going to give him one extra week. The thing is and it's not nice writing this, it's all about the match now for Sherwood because we're in the relegation zone and if we lose against Stoke, the team one place above us, things will get nasty.
And this is when I write that I think we'll win. That I think it will start to come right for Sherwood today. But I'm not sure. I am sure however that if we win, it's not coming right. I've written a couple of times now that one win isn't enough. He needs three on the bounce before he can have that cocky attitude in front of the cameras.
He was to turn off that wide boy attitude and focus on the work and the football and getting the players to do what he wants. I'm not sure footballers want a mate, they want a boss. I'm not sure he can be their mate and boss at the same time. I'm not sure that's possible in any line of work. Despite this so called football philosophy he has.
Because I have a football philosophy too and I could sit and talk to anyone about it for hours. It doesn't mean that I'm a Premier League manager. But I'd love the chance - it's a lot easier than starting in the lower leagues when you can't go out and spend money, when you don't have the training facilities or the medical staff or the coaching staff around you.
Which raises the question; is Tim Sherwood a coach or a manager? But that's another post for another time and possibly it will be what we as supporters come to if he doesn't make it. It will also possibly be the reason why some will say he needs more time, but I'm not sure you get time to learn what a managers job is at a Premier League club, you're supposed to get that without the training and medical facilities or coaching staff in a lower league club.
The match at Villa Park
So, it comes down to this. Half time could even be messy for Sherwood, but Aston Villa fans also know that it could be his tactics to play like crap for 45 minutes to make Stoke think they're playing like Barcelona and then in the second half remind them that they're just Stoke.
Team news is coming and my bet of the day is a simple one; £20 on Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and West Ham. If it comes in, the returns are £181.32 and my season starts to look up.
The players
Starting today we have Guzan, Hutton, Richards, Lescott, Amavi, Crespo, Veretout, Gana, Westwood, Gestede and Sinclair. On the bench we have Bunn, Bacuna, Richardson, Ayew, Sanchez, Gil and Grealish.