Tim Sherwood: I had no say as Aston Villa sold their big stars

Sherwood, who helped save Villa from relegation after taking over in 2015 and took them to an FA Cup final the same year, revealed decisions were taken above his head during final year of Randy Lerner’s ownership of the club.

And the former Tottenham and Blackburn midfielder said the modern system of sporting directors has taken power out of managers’ hands at club.

Sherwood – speaking to the William Hill and Footy Accumulators’ podcast, No Tippy Tappy Football – said: “Unless you buy into this modern- day sporting director who calls the shots, you aren’t going to get the job. It’s an institution now, especially at big clubs in the Premier League.

“Aston Villa decided to get rid of Christian Benteke, who was a key player for me. Brendan Rodgers called me telling me he was going to take him to Liverpool. I tried to talk him out of it, but obviously he decided that Christian was his choice.

“Villa got rid of Tom Cleverley, Fabian Delph and Ron Vlaar, and I didn’t have a say in it. They left because the club didn’t want to keep them. They brought in these young French and Spanish players who could have become good players, but it harmed us because they weren’t going to hit the floor running whilst we were struggling to survive in the Premier League. I thought it was a mistake and I was very honest with the owner.”

Sherwood was sacked in October 2015 after a six-game losing run and Villa went on to be relegated.

He added: “I lost games and got sacked and they had another three managers that year. So as soon as I left, I told them that no-one keeps these up because the quality of the players is just not up to it, and I was proved right unfortunately.

“In the end, some of them were okay but not for Villa at the time. They’ve moved on and did it around Europe, but they probably weren’t right for the Premier League.”

One of the highlights of Sherwood’s Villa tenure was emergence of Jack Grealish, who starred in Villa’s run to the 2015 FA Cup final including a man-of-the-match performance in the semin-final victory over Liverpool.

Sherwood added: ““Jack Grealish was great to work with at Villa, I loved him.

“He was young; he still made mistakes off the field, and I was inundated with people ringing me up telling me what he couldn’t do, but all I was interested in was what he could do.

“I’ve known him since he was a kid, 16 years of age, playing against the under 18s at Tottenham. He needed his own ball, no-one else could get a kick of it. He was a man physically, you see the size of his calves and thighs, it was incredible!”

“Jack is a very special talented boy, and he is now just one of many at City.

“He was the main man at Villa and most of the time at City there is a couple of blocks ahead of him.

“The way he plays dragging people in and winning fouls, he knows exactly what he is doing. I think he’s a really special player.”