It's not Sherwood!

[passport1]

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.

Not sure anyone is sharpenning their knife or wishing him ill-will. The plain truth is no one has anything concrete to go on and into that vacuum comes third party opinions, press articles etc all of which colour our views.

In the end all that matters is results and that is how he will be judged.
For now however conjecture rules

[not3bad]

Well, sounds to me like he wants to whip them into shape.  In a footballing sense.

[Damo70]

He would have been way down my list but there is something about him I like and that goes back to his time in charge at Spurs. As for opinions of the media, fans of a former club or former players Gregory had no managerial pedigree and had never managed in the top flight, Little's club was in the relegation zone (possibly even bottom?) when he moved to us, BFR had plenty of critics for his managerial style (supposedly lax ), SGT had plenty of critics of his style of play (supposedly long ball), MON's critics overlooked Leicester and came out with the "anybody can win things with Celtic" line and whilst it was before my time I'm pretty sure when Ron Saunders took over his reputation had been damaged by fan, player and press criticism of his time at Manchester City.

[Monty]

Well, sounds to me like he wants to whip them into shape.  In a footballing sense.

Ba-dum.

[brian green]

I am not being hysterical. I want objectivity. Quoting the Grauniad like some Delphic oracle gets on my tits. I have worked with the Grauniad on and off for nearly 50 years. There are as many off target journalists there as there are in the red tops.

[SamTheMouse]

I can't see why it is regarded as controversial by some to express concerns about Sherwood's tactical acumen (or lack thereof). For what it's worth, I happen to think Monty's perfectly justified in what he says.

My own feeling on this appointment is similar to what I felt when Lambert was brought in. Not my first choice by any stretch. Decent perhaps, but not good enough for such a great institution and a missed opportunity to start laying the foundations for a more sophisticated ethos at the club. We've settled for the familiar, distinctly British choice with a 90s flavour, when I'd have preferred some more imaginative thinking.

Given the circumstances, I can see why Sherwood might have been the more attractive of some limited options. But was it really necessary to give him such a long contract? For a man who says we have to cut our cloth financially these days, Randy sure does like to piss money up the wall...

[Monty]

I am not being hysterical. I want objectivity. Quoting the Grauniad like some Delphic oracle gets on my tits. I have worked with the Grauniad on and off for nearly 50 years. There are as many off target journalists there as there are in the red tops.

Philippe Auclair works for the Guardian as well as many other outlets - I just heard him on their podcast. I just said he expressed what I thought, and offered a bit of insight unavailable to me. You're still just playing the man not the ball - actually, you're not even playing the man, because you have no reason to discredit Auclair, just the Guardian as a whole.

[ciggiesnbeer]

It seems pretty clear he was Foxes first choice and we were his. According to him he said "yes" before even negotiating his comp.

While I wanted a foreign manager (sorry Tim its not just Spurs fans who don't want English tacticians) I am pleased that the club knew what they wanted and he very clearly wanted the same. Better than a drawn out process I think.

[Richard E]

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.

If people have reservations it is fine by me if they want to express them on here, it is all grist to the mill of the debate.

Personally however I shall reserve judgement until we see how he gets on. I thought Lambert would be great for us, which shows what I know. So far he talks a good game and I like the cut of his jib but we shall see what happens between now and the end of the season. At least there's some hope again now. If Lambert had stayed we were down, no question.

[Hookeysmith]

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.

Bloody hell I hope he did not waste time talking tactics with old Pep at Bayern - look what it did to Lambert

[PeterWithe]

According to him he said "yes" before even negotiating his comp.

Compensation from whom?

[brian green]

I did not want Sherwood. He was not in the top ten of my preferred candidates but I accept, and all I hope from other loyal Villa supporters is the acceptance of the reality that we are third bottom, up for sale, owned by a man who appears to have lost interest in the sport and the club and we face stringent financial constraints and bearing all those things in mind Tom Fox made the best of a bad job.  Finding fault in Sherwood is as easy as it is counterproductive. He needs a chance and I shall give him a chance. What you do is up to you. As for me attacking the Guardian, it is true that since it went Lib Dem I no longer care for it but I number several of its finest journalists of the 60s and 70s as personal friends but I still regard it as no more or less than tomorrow's chip wrapping.

[Dr Butler]

According to him he said "yes" before even negotiating his comp.

Compensation from whom?

I think he means contract with the Villa...

UTV
The Doc

[aev]

I am not being hysterical. I want objectivity. Quoting the Grauniad like some Delphic oracle gets on my tits. I have worked with the Grauniad on and off for nearly 50 years. There are as many off target journalists there as there are in the red tops.

Philippe Auclair works for the Guardian as well as many other outlets - I just heard him on their podcast. I just said he expressed what I thought, and offered a bit of insight unavailable to me. You're still just playing the man not the ball - actually, you're not even playing the man, because you have no reason to discredit Auclair, just the Guardian as a whole.

Some bloke writing on the Guardian was reasonably positive about his half time influence (Michael Cox?), though of course we could debate whether it was Sherwood or Marshall that made the difference.

To be honest, I just want to feel good about supporting us as for too long it feels as though it has been an exhausting one way love affair.

[KevinGage]

As I said the day of the Hull game, when you have a burst pipe in your loft the first thing you do is call for a plumber. The interior decorator and the carpet fitter come later.

To spin that around somewhat:  If you live in a stately home and spring a leak, would you call a rookie plumber?

I understand the doubts about Sherwood. I don't see how it can be any other way, when the bloke has only had 28 games managing in the topflight previously. Nevermind the Villa job being too big for him, had a vacancy occurred at Leicester or Hull I'm sure some of their lot would be uncomfortable with his lack of experience. 

In his defence, he doesn't seem to lack belief. That can go a long way - in all walks of life. With the personnel we have, being a bit better than Paul Lambert (which shouldn't be hard) could be enough to keep us up.