Tim Sherwood revealed what an Aston Villa executive advised him to do ahead of facing Birmingham City in 2015
Tim Sherwood had an eventful eight months in charge at Aston Villa in 2015
Tim Sherwood had an eventful eight months in charge at Aston Villa in 2015
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Former Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has revealed that he was advised to field a weaker team for the Second City derby League Cup clash back in 2015.
Rudy Gestede scored the only goal of the game for Villa in the second half, heading in Jordan Amavi’s cross from the left.
It was one of very few highlights of a drab season for Villa in 2015/16, which ended with the club being relegated to the Championship.
Sherwood lasted only 12 games that campaign, having taken over in the previous season and helped the club remain in the top flight, while also guiding them to an FA Cup final.
The former manager, now turned pundit, has been discussing his time at Villa on Premier League Productions’ Team Talks and recalled a conversation with one executive prior to a League Cup match against Blues over a decade ago.
He said: “I remember someone on the executive side of Aston Villa knocked on my door the day before one of the games and said, 'Don’t worry about tomorrow. It’s a League Cup game. It’s not important because the priority has to be the Premier League, you know, resting the players for the weekend'.
“I just said, 'Listen, I’m the manager. I’m picking the team that I feel is correct for the game'. And the Aston Villa fans out there will be amazed that it was actually Birmingham we were playing in the next round of the cup.
“Now, I could not believe that someone was actually speaking to me on football terms. It’s a rivalry which is very strong. It is the biggest rivalry in the Midlands.
"I could not play a group of kids against Birmingham at home at Villa Park, and it would have just bred negativity and more negativity around the club.
“So I made a conscious decision: no, we’re going to play. We’re going to win the game, and we’re going to springboard from there.”
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