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OPINION: What can Tim Sherwood bring to Swindon Town?
On Thursday afternoon, ex-Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood was announced as Swindon Town's Director of Football in front of the national media, so Total Sport got Spurs fan and Yahoo Sport writer Nikhil Saglani to give us a detailed insight into Town's new man.
The perception of Tim Sherwood will vary depending on whom you speak to. A large section of Tottenham’s fan base will tell you he is an outspoken, egotistical and unqualified manager at Premier League level. Ask many behind-the-scenes, though, and you will hear of an intelligent man who coached Tottenham’s youth teams for many years with great professionalism and success.
His spell as manager of Tottenham came at the wrong time for him but he did not do as bad a job as is made out.
After a difficult few months under André Villas-Boas, chairman Daniel Levy gave Sherwood the job on an initial interim basis. He began by releasing the shackles of Villas-Boas’ chess-like style and reverted to 4-4-2 – earning himself the nickname ‘Four-Four-Tim’ within weeks.
He also brought Emmanuel Adebayor back from exile and promoted Nabil Bentaleb from Spurs’ U21 side. Both moves were successful overall – with Adebayor scoring a number of vital goals in the Premier League and Europa League while Bentaleb added some fight, grit and steel to Spurs’ midfield and enjoyed an impressive 2014-15 season under Mauricio Pochettino after Sherwood left.
Sherwood also did show some tactical adaptability during his short spell at White Hart Lane. When travelling away to a dangerous Swansea side, containing the likes of Wilfried Bony, Sherwood opted for a 4-3-3 formation in order to win the midfield battle. The change worked a treat, with Spurs winning 3-1 courtesy of two Adeabyor goals and a Chico Flores own goal.
It was one of the better performances under Sherwood and gained the Englishman many plaudits. Another positive side to his tenure was Spurs’ ability to break down teams that ‘parked the bus’ against them. This was one of Villas-Boas’ biggest struggles in both his jobs in England but Sherwood’s use of two strikers and more natural wide men meant he was more successful at getting in behind than his predecessor.
However, there were just as many alarming negatives as there were positives. The first was that he could not fix Spurs’ defence and his side were on the end of several heavy beating during his short tenure, including a 4-0 loss at Anfield and a 5-1 humbling at home to Manchester City, although Danny Rose was harshly sent off at 1-0 down. Yaya Toure converted the penalty and the Champions-elect won the game at a canter.
Sherwood’s men also capitulated 4-0 at Stamford Bridge. His decision to start Kyle Naughton at right-back and Kyle Walker at right wing was one that was met with criticism but was done to double up on the mercurial Eden Hazard – and it worked, for a short while.
However, numerous individual errors cost Spurs and Sherwood’s biggest flaw was shown up in his post-match press conference. Instead of shouldering the blame, he went on a rant about his players and the club – suggesting the club should “wake up” about reaching the top four. He was also too open when discussing the misdemeanours of Sandro after Spurs’ win at home to Fulham – and needs to learn to keep himself to himself.
Another positive from his reign at the Lane was Spurs’ ability to come back in games, such as from 3-0 down away to West Brom and a fightback away in Benfica that nearly resulted in extra time after Spurs had lost 3-1 at home.
Questions were asked by fans though as to why his side kept falling behind – especially because of the number of early goals conceded under his stewardship, something that quickly improved under Pochettino.
It is also common knowledge that he miraculously kept Aston Villa up at the end of the 2014-15 season, as well as getting to an FA Cup Final, but was sacked soon into the next season after a dismal start. The common theme between both his jobs are promising starts that falter and an inability to turn the tide – leading to disaster after disaster.
However, as a youth team coach, he did have success at spotting players and developing them – which is why a Director of Football role might be a useful tool for him to work his way back into the game.
He was not scared of using young players Ezekiel Fryers, Bentaleb, Andros Townsend and Harry Kane – who scored three league goals under Sherwood in the final two months of his reign. He also gave a debut to promising player, Milos Veljkovic in the final weeks of the season and has also worked with now Swindon players Lawrence Vigouroux and Jon Obika at Spurs.
With Swindon’s financial constraints, Sherwood may be useful for spotting talented youth players at Premier League and Championship clubs and bringing them in as loanees – and was key to the Robins loaning Alex Pritchard, Ryan Mason and Grant Hall from White Hart Lane while Massimo Luongo and Nathan Byrne swapped Spurs for Swindon in deals for £400,000 and a free transfer respectively after initial loan spells pre-Lee Power.
Whilst he has many flaws as a manager, dropping down the leagues into a role with slightly less pressure might just be the move he needs to re-establish himself in the world of football.
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