Thoughts and issues regarding the past and present of a great football club by "The Chronicler".

Tuesday 10 November 2015

Isn't It Time That Tim Was Left Alone?

Today I was attracted by an on-line article heading stating: "Remi Garde Already Beloved Because He’s Not Tim Sherwood". Attracted? No, wrong word, I was somewhat repulsed.

There does seem to be a contingent that aim to vilify Tim and his efforts at Villa Park. That he made mistakes is without question, but let's examine the how's and why's he came to be there, and the positive things he in fact did accomplish.


When he was appointed in February, he replaced a manager whose record had been abysmal and at that point Villa had only scored 12 goals in the league. Tim came in, moved things around a bit and before long we were scoring and gaining points. The season did finish with something of a whimper, it has to be admitted, but at least Villa were not relegated and Villa had appeared in a Cup Final after a fine semi-final display at Wembley.


Back in February, Villa were virtually at the point of relegation. Tim was hastily recruited by a Villa management that had made some crass decisions over the preceding 4 years (okay, Tom Fox wasn't in the CEO chair all that time, but he had contributed to some of the problems). The Villa management had left it until virtually the last minute to get in a new manager, and clearly did so only after Villa had slipped into the bottom three despite many calls from the fans to do something earlier. They had left it so late there was no time to go through a short list for interview.


Up to the summer, Tim's rather small managerial experience at Spurs and Villa had collected impressive stats: a high proportion of his matches had been wins.


The summer change-over was the real start of the trouble. Not only did Tim lose arguably his best three (or four) players, but it appears he was presented with a fait accompli in respect of most of the signings recommendations. This, clearly, did not go down too well with Tim.


For me, how Tim was treated by the board smacks of sharp business practice. He was somewhat set up. Yes, Tim could have dealt with it better, but some of the failure is due to the players themselves. And the board.


So, Tim: thanks a lot for what you did accomplish. You did breathe life back into the club for awhile. Good luck for the future!


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