QPR can haul Aston Villa right back into the relegation mire with a victory against them on Tuesday. Is Tim Sherwood as brilliant as he thinks he is?
It’s a running joke with our regular Villa contributor Nelson Rahi that LFW tips Aston Villa to be relegated from the Premier League every year. Like roaches after a nuclear holocaust, they’re still here. Sometimes, it seems it’s only this site’s prediction that keeps them up.
On paper, there’s no way Aston Villa should be struggling in a division which has supported the likes of Wigan, West Brom, Crystal Palace, Norwich, QPR, Fulham, Blackburn and others for various lengths of time in the recent past. They have a rich American owner, they have one of — if not the — best stadium in the Premier League, they have a massive support, and a history of trophy winning and European football. I’ve said before, walking up to Villa Park from Aston train station — particularly for a night game like this one — and seeing the Holte End and the old brick club house at the front of a sprawling complex, it’s difficult to believe QPR are even in the same division never mind potentially finishing above this outfit. Rangers, remember, have already won 2-0 in the corresponding fixture this year.
But Villa have been circling the drain for some time. Randy Lerner financed an expensive chase of Champions League football under Martin O’Neill but, having missed out and finished sixth three years running, he has first cut costs and then tried desperately to sell the club. That’s not good for team building even with a good manager — married with an odd ability to appoint one absolute dog after another it’s a recipe for disaster and Villa have worked their way through one Gerard Houllier heart attack, a 12 month spell with Alex McLeish which induced similar in previously healthy Villa Park season ticket holders, and then more than two years of tedium under Paul Lambert. Throw in David O’Leary before O’Neill and even the most ardent Birmingham City fan must offer some sympathy.
This summer’s signings looked like a final tipping point. Phillippe Senderos, Joe Cole, Kieran Richardson — the very final scrapings from the shittest barrel of 3% lager in the dodgiest pub in a town even worse than Luton. The signings of a team destined for relegation.
And, under Lambert, that’s exactly what looked like happening. Villa have spent the season smashing unwanted records. Six straight defeats through September and October scoring only once — one of the worst runs in the club’s history. They played three times in October and couldn’t hold a Goal of the Month competition at the end of it — because they didn’t score one. Only 11 goals scored in 15 home games all season.
The bullet was bitten after a 2-0 loss at Hull — a tenth league game without a win. Lambert was sacked, Tim Sherwood was appointed, and here’s where LFW becomes all hypocritical.
Regularly on these pages we moan about mealy mouthed, bland managers, trotting out clichés and platitudes, or engaging in a tedious "war of words” with a rival which seem to spark huge interest in the newspapers but, personally, bore me more than an episode of the Antiques Roadshow. Sherwood tells it exactly as it is, shamelessly outspoken, caring little for what anybody thinks of him or what he says or who he offends. We moan about managers, particularly those at QPR, always looking for another signing, usually at great expense, often from abroad, rather than giving a chance to a youth teamer or trying to coach an existing first teamer and improving his game — Tim Sherwood agrees. We moan about negative football, playing for draws, playing not to concede rather than trying to score, particularly away from home — Tim Sherwood agrees. We moan about multi millionaire footballers stamping their card each day and tossing it off — Tim Sherwood does too.
And yet, he’s almost impossible to like.
The way he expected to walk into a Premier League manager’s job as the club’s first choice after just six months of managerial experience at Spurs. Six months during which he achieved the best win percentage of any Spurs manager ever — something he reminds people of at least three times an hour every day. But, six months where he did the same as every other Spurs manager before him — bullying his way down the flat tracks and then collapsing in a heavily beaten heap whenever a game against a half decent side came along. Six months where he won the square root of fuck all. While happy to take credit for the games won, and prattle on about the win percentage, he would throw his players under the bus after those big defeats — every win Tim Sherwood’s work, every defeat the fault of overpaid, underworked footballers. He made excessive demands, and turned down, jobs at Palace, QPR and West Brom - jobs far more experienced managers with much better CVs would have jumped at.
Sherwood talks about Harry Kane, Ryan Mason, Andros Townsend and others as supermarket trolley collectors, spotted on park pitches and thrown straight into the first team by Tim Sherwood and only Tim Sherwood. He talks about Jake Livermore, Steven Caulker and Tom Huddlestone like England players in waiting if only Tottenham had kept them, and let him manage them for the rest of their careers. He trots out "ratios” and "percentages” so utterly pointless and ridiculous it can drive you to distraction — even after losing his first league game as Villa manager 2-1 at home to Stoke he said "I’ve been here one game, and we’ve scored one goal — good ratio.”
Villa will hope the brash arrogance is enough to stir their team from a non-scoring slumber and preserve their Premier League status again.
There is an argument that says this is a club that could now actually do with a relegation, a clean slate, a fresh start and a new-build with the playing squad. At the moment, much like QPR, Villa shop in the summer like a team that’s running to keep up — layering more mediocrity on top of what’s already there. Senderos, Cole and Richardson should be a nadir, but if they stay up, and Lerner can’t find a buyer, it’s difficult to see what else they can do other than repeat that this summer.
But Villa perform superbly at academy level. They have a clutch of young players ready to burst through, led by Jack Grealish — a midfielder who is 50% hair gel and 50% leg muscle, who seems to glide past opponents without pace or flicks and tricks, but past them all the same. Sherwood has shown, and incessantly spoken about, his desire to give players like that first team chances. Perhaps, perhaps, this time survival may herald brighter things to come.
But that survival is far from assured. Tuesday night’s game feels like a pivotal moment. Don’t expect Sherwood to downplay the importance of a win if he gets one, or his part in it. Lose, and LFW might actually be right for once.
The Twitter @loftforwords
Pictures — Action Images