It's not Sherwood!

[adrenachrome]

I don't like him either. Never have. However, he is just what the doctor ordered for the short term, less so for the long term in my estimation.

In fact, it is naive to talk about the long term at this juncture. We have gone from LernerLamboLimboLand to LernerTimboLimboLand. The ideal position would be to have a long term plan and playing philosophy with stable coaching staff who would not leave with manager but that is not on the agenda while we are in serious danger and in the process of being sold.

Avoiding relegation, a modicum of entertainment and excitement and hoping RL does not sell us to Venture Capital Vultures all we can realistically expect at this stage.     

[olaftab]

and any clues who are the other management candiate on short list/interviewed.

It's been widely reported that nobody else was interviewed. Of course, other people could have been contacted and then said no to us.

Or they said yes but we didn't follow it up. There is a possiblity, however much some would not like to recognise it, that managers/coaches would find Aston Villa, 22nd richest sports club in the world, an attractive proposition?

[Monty]

Philippe Auclair said what I think on the Guardian podcast yesterday: he'll have his use as a good man-motivator, but 'you'll struggle to find anyone in the game' who thinks he has any of the tactical awareness necessary to succeed.

[olaftab]

From now till end of this season we need a man motivator. That should be enough to get 15 points to keep us in the division however post that it could be heartache because there in only so much you can do with pure motivation.

[themossman]

That sums it up for me. I can't think of a better candidate for the job of A. keeping us up with no means of changing the squad (which is far and away the biggest concern) and B. stopping us being such a gutless laughing stock of a team. Beyond that who cares, at this point?

[supertom]

Credit to him for Sunday. That's exactly what he will bring. Motivation and a little inspiration. He's dynamic. Our last two managers have been pretty dreary. I don't think our second half performance after he went down for a team talk was a co-incidence.

[aev]

Philippe Auclair said what I think on the Guardian podcast yesterday: he'll have his use as a good man-motivator, but 'you'll struggle to find anyone in the game' who thinks he has any of the tactical awareness necessary to succeed.

If we look at our squad I would suggest that it is woefully underachieving.

If he can keep us up this season, and next year get us to a level that is reasonable for the players at our disposal then to me he would have done a good job, which in a way in nonsensical as he is really just getting the players as to perform as you'd expect. This to me is really the problem we have, in that for so long we have been less than the sum of our parts, and so if by some "old fashioned" management we can get higher up the league then it is good with me. This (if we stay up), is eminently achievable. Perhaps getting into the top 8 is the difficult bit, but let's try and walk before we can run.

[fredm]

People are saying he is not a tactician due to how he did at Spurs. Well he left there and has had time to take stock of how it went, what he may have done differently, etc. Who knows he may even have been having long chats with, say Mourinho, about tactics etc. We shall just have to wait and see how it all pans out. He is here, we have 13 matches to save ourselves from ignominy so we all need to get behind all of them and try and get us over the finish line.

[Toronto Villa]

Philippe Auclair said what I think on the Guardian podcast yesterday: he'll have his use as a good man-motivator, but 'you'll struggle to find anyone in the game' who thinks he has any of the tactical awareness necessary to succeed.

There is a mix of opinion out there about him. Some good (Friedel/Osian Roberts/Spurs message board), some not so favourable (Spurs message board/Lloris and whoever else you might have cited). Now, it all depends on which you believe more, because all of it is based on very little. The positive stuff and the negative is based on a tiny sample size of games where he able to match the performance (and slightly do better than) a more established football coach. He's got his badges, and he has had experience with the U21's so he's not like some guy who has nothing at all and winds up in a job. Is he lucky to be at a PL football club of our size? Absolutely. But then that's where he started with Spurs and he's clearly got the personal confidence that he can keep going at it at this level.

The truth is none of us know how this will end up. I like many thought we were going to get more from Lambert as an example and instead it collapsed like a cheap tent. Many would have loved to have seen Laudrup or Prandelli appointed but were they even available or willing to come? And again until they are in the situation , in a relegation battle first and foremost we don't really know how it would have all come together. Laudrup didn't see out his contract with Swansea and Prandelli has never managed in the PL. It wouldn't have been easy for anyone coming to the club right now. What I do know is outside of the confidence, fist pumping, positive talk Sherwood needs to be good tactically because bluster will only get him so far. If at the end of it all he is out thought/coached etc we'll all see it.

I don't think anyone on here who is trying to be as positive about this as possible is oblivious to what is needed or so naive that they are dismissing the weaknesses he might have. But, I am going to choose to find the positives such as they are in this not so perfect situation we find ourselves in. Because there are some positives in his achievements albeit over 28 games, and there are positives in what he has said and done so far. That is all we can go on, and until he proves himself over an extended period of time some will continue to be openly skeptical of him and others privately so. But that should hold true for any new manager, not just Tim Sherwood.

[brian green]

This knife sharpening for a manager who has been with us for less than a week is inexcusable. I do not give a flying fuck about what the Grauniad opines.

[Monty]

This knife sharpening for a manager who has been with us for less than a week is inexcusable. I do not give a flying fuck about what the Grauniad opines.

'Knife sharpening', for goodness' sake. What the hell is the point of a discussion forum where everyone criticises, not a point of view, but someone having the temerity to express it? I'm not trolling here, I'm giving my view, while TV above is giving his, we disagree, happy days, everybody sing Kumbayah. You're saying my having this point of view is 'inexcusable', which is hysterical (what, 'inexcusable' like murder? Come off it). You say you don't care what the Graun says, but really you're saying you don't care what I say, I shouldn't say it. Frankly, that's childish.

[not3bad]

But what does 'straight talking' mean? Does it mean not being bright enough to have any tact?

Nope.  It means saying it how it is with the players.  No beating around the bush, no pandering to egos.  What's wrong with that?

I also don't quite know what he means by 'passion' and so on

Really?  I imagine 99% of people who have ever watched or played sport know exactly what he means.

Look, I'm no great fan of Sherwood.  To be honest I don't really like the bloke and didn't want him as manager.  But it looks like you are just being deliberately obtuse and looking for things to beat him with that simply don't exist, at least in terms of how he has conducted himself since being appointed.

That's the thing. Define passion as an actual thing which happens on the pitch.

Go and read the comments about Gabby after the Hull match. About how he hadn't put in a shift for ages. You know how people jump up and down when they get exited and talk about "being claret & blue to the core"? It's all that shit.

And I just wanted to mention what interesting dicussion dissecting these fairly innocuous comments to the nth degree makes.  Not.

[Monty]

Go and read the comments about Gabby after the Hull match. About how he hadn't put in a shift for ages.

And I just wanted to mention what interesting dicussion dissecting these fairly innocuous comments makes.  Not.

Nice selective quoting. I said there are (a few) players who actually don't try their hardest on the pitch, and would put Gabby in that relatively small category. You haven't, then, answered my actual question.

Also, if it's so boring, why are you reading it and posting about it?

[not3bad]

Go and read the comments about Gabby after the Hull match. About how he hadn't put in a shift for ages.

And I just wanted to mention what interesting dicussion dissecting these fairly innocuous comments makes.  Not.

Nice selective quoting. I said there are (a few) players who actually don't try their hardest on the pitch, and would put Gabby in that relatively small category. You haven't, then, answered my actual question.

Also, if it's so boring, why are you reading it and posting about it?

Because it had become boring and repetitive enough for me to want to comment about how it's getting boring and repetitive.

[Monty]

Go and read the comments about Gabby after the Hull match. About how he hadn't put in a shift for ages.

And I just wanted to mention what interesting dicussion dissecting these fairly innocuous comments makes.  Not.

Nice selective quoting. I said there are (a few) players who actually don't try their hardest on the pitch, and would put Gabby in that relatively small category. You haven't, then, answered my actual question.

Also, if it's so boring, why are you reading it and posting about it?

Because it had become boring and repetitive enough for me to want to comment about how it's getting boring and repetitive.

Actually we were moving off it to more general discussions about Sherwood and what he might do. Thanks for steering it back to the bit you find so boring. If you're that masochistic, there's a new movie out which might suit you more than this forum.