Head of Football Development awarded contract until the end of the 2014-15 season
Tottenham have appointed interim manager Tim Sherwood as permanent head coach, awarding the former Blackburn title winner a contract until the end of next season.
Touching on Andre Villas-Boas’ recent dismissal, chairman Daniel Levy told the club website: “We were extremely reluctant to make a change mid-season, but felt we had to do so in the Club’s best interests.
“We have a great squad and we owe them a Head Coach who will bring out the best in them and allow them to flourish and enjoy a strong, exciting finish to the season.”
Sherwood, 44, had earlier been very vocal about wanting the position permanently, telling reporters after of this weekends game at St Mary’s, “I don’t want it for 10 minutes, I want it for long-term or not at all.”
It looks like he has got his wish after Spurs’ win at Southampton clearly impressed the clubs hierarchy, as did the attacking style displayed during both Sherwood’s Tottenham games. The fact that the former Head of Football Development is familiar with the club, and importantly, Levy, has obviously put him in good stead.
“We are in the fortunate position of having within our Club a talented coach in Tim Sherwood, Levy continued. “We believe Tim has both the knowledge and the drive to take the squad forward.”
In his short term in charge of the first team, Sherwood has also brought the club’s highest earner, Emmanuel Adebayor back into the fold, as well as blooding promising young midfielder Nabil Bentaleb.
Chris Ramsey, Les Ferdinand and Steffen Freund all retain their places in the First Team Coaching set up.
Whether appointing an individual with no top-class management experience is a good idea will be the question levelled at Spurs for the rest of the season, especially after rumours of vastly experienced managers such as Louis Van Gaal, Frank de Boer and Glenn Hoddle taking over have been banded about over the course of the week.
Perhaps the fact he has been awarded a short-term contract, on almost certainly a wage a fraction of what Andre Villas-Boas would have been on, can be seen as some sort of get-out clause.
Tottenham fans were generally eager to give their former player a chance on Twitter, despite some expressing concern that they got rid of AVB and have brought someone in with little management reputation. They will see their new manager pit his team against West Brom on Boxing Day at White Hart Lane.
Below are some of the early comments fans had on the matter on Twitter:
image: © hollidaypics
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