Daniel Levy Had To Appoint Tim Sherwood As Tottenham Manager

Daniel Levy [Photo: Alan Hill]Daniel Levy had been left with no option other than to appoint Tim Sherwood as the replacement for Andre Villas-Boas as manager at Tottenham. Sherwood steps up from Technical Director with responsibility for the young players and the Development squad to become Head Coach with an 18 month contract.

Tim Sherwood was appointed interim manager at Spurs last Monday as the club assessed their options for appointing a replacement for AVB. The names of various managers were quickly put forward as possible candidates to fill the vacancy at White Hart Lane but almost as quickly the front-runners were distancing themselves from the position as they were not prepared to leave their current clubs or posts in mid-season.

Tim Sherwood [Photo: Alan Hill]When questioned, Tim Sherwood made it very clear that he was eager to take on the challenging position but he also made it clear that he wasn’t willing to act in a caretaker position for any lengthy period of time. One can assume that that meant he wasn’t going to take the reins until the summer while Spurs waited for a more experienced candidate to become available at the end of the season or after the World Cup.

The managers linked with Tottenham in the media made an interesting who’s who of modern football managers but no one was going to be available immediately highlighting the problem of sacking the manager suddenly in mid-season. At least when Fulham made that decision with Martin Jol, they had a ready made replacement at the club.

As Daniel Levy’s and Franco Baldini’s week-long search floundered, so Tim Sherwood was working himself into a very strong position at the club.

Sherwood has been highly regarded at Tottenham since his appointment as a coach by Harry Redknapp in 2008. He later took on the responsibility for the Development squad of young professional players at the club. When Redknapp,was sacked in 2012 there were suggestions that Sherwood would take on a more high profile role in the new set-up under AVB. The Director of Football post was a possibility but as it turned out he remained as Technical Director.

During the past week with the first team Sherwood has strengthened his position by winning the league game at Southampton. He has also reintroduced Emmanuel Adebayor into the team to good effect – 3 goals in 2 appearances and an all-round contribution not usually associated the striker. He also introduced the young midfield player Nabil Bentaleb into the team as a substitute in the second half at Southampton. The young player impressed with his composure and willingness to get involved in the game. Three positives to present to the Chairman when they met to discuss his future.

At that meeting Sherwood was holding the best hand without any doubt. Unusually for Daniel Levy he was in a weak position – none of his experienced options were prepared to come now and he knew that if he asked Sherwood to stay on until the summer, he would be met with another rebuff.

The Tottenham Chairman had to offer Sherwood the position on a permanent basis or face having no-one to appoint as Sherwood was prepared to return to his original position as Technical Director. The choice Levy was left with was Sherwood or no one and become a laughing stock.

Alan has a very interesting view on the appointment.

Alan’s View

Tim would not have been my choice as I understood coaching badges were a pre-requisite and he has no management experience despite his knowledge of the club.  The end of 2014/15? That’s as long as anybody ever gets at Spurs.

The appointment to the end of 2014-15 surprised me. The cynical part of me thinks that date doesn’t really mean anything at all because they’ll get rid of anyone when they feel like it. All it probably does is affect the level of the payoff when he goes. I bet he doesn’t survive the summer.

I hope the club doesn’t now walk into a storm over appointing an unqualified coach. It seems to be challenging the authorities and asking for trouble.

Nevertheless it is our job to get behind him now and wish him the very best of luck.