Tim Sherwood appointed permanent Aston Villa manager

Premier League relegation chances Aston Villa (6/5) have announced the appointment of former Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood as their new manager, to replace the sacked Paul Lambert.

The Villans announced on their official website: “Aston Villa Football Club are delighted to announce the appointment of Tim Sherwood as our new manager.

“Tim, 46, joins after a long and successful coaching career with Tottenham, culminating a short but successful period as manager, and has agreed a contract that will see him take charge until the end of season 2017/18.”

On being appointed, Sherwood, who has six months worth of experience as a manager, said: “It is a great honour to manage one of the biggest clubs in English football.

“I can’t wait to get started and I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”

His new owner Randy Lerner, meanwhile, had these words to say: “While being forever conscious of the frustrations that we all suffer, we feel that a change that offers a positive, fresh approach will be very good for the club.

“I know that [Aston Villa chief executive] Tom [Fox] and many others at Villa worked very hard to recruit Tim in the face of severely limited time constraints and pounding pressure.

“More importantly, I know further that internally we remain focused and committed to challenges we face, and I am deeply appreciative for that.”

Sherwood finally takes over from a club, after being regularly touted as the bookies favourite for other positions, including the likes of West Bromwich Albion and QPR more recently.

But he has joined Aston Villa, who are languishing down in the relegation zone in 18th, after a run of five straight losses and 10 games without a win.

The West Midlands outfit are one of the oldest clubs in the world and have been in the English top flight since 1988/89, so Sherwood and Villans fans will be desperate to stay up this term. They are odds-on at 8/13 to do so.

Sherwood has also been given another task by Villa it seems, with chief executive Fox being impressed with his work bringing players through the academy at Tottenham, as he blooded the likes of Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason and Spurs’ newest star Harry Kane.