‘They didn’t want him’: Tim Sherwood says he was forced to get rid of ‘immense’ player when he was at Villa

Tim Sherwood wasn’t dealt the easiest of hands as Aston Villa manager.

As any Villa fan would tell you around that time, the Midlands club were a mess under Randy Lerner’s ownership at that point.

Villa made bad decision after bad decision in the transfer market, and Sherwood had to deal with a lot of board interference.

Speaking on the Seaman Says Podcast, Tim Sherwood has been discussing his time as Villa boss, and he says that the board went over his head with one player.

Indeed, Sherwood says that he wanted to keep Ron Vlaar at Aston Villa, but the higher-ups at Villa Park decided that they didn’t want him, so he left the club.

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Tim Sherwood wanted to keep Ron Vlaar

Sherwood spoke about how he wanted to keep Vlaar at Villa before the board intervened.

The former Villa boss says that Vlaar was an immense player in terms of his character and leadership, but, sadly, he didn’t stay at the club.

“We speak about spines of teams and how important they are. Brad Guzan, they wanted to keep him which was fine. Ron Vlaar off the back of a World Cup, I wanted to keep him, but they didn’t want him, he was immense. Character-wise, solid centre-back, communication to help out others,” Sherwood said.

What went wrong for Tim Sherwood at Aston Villa?

Sherwood didn’t want to let Vlaar leave Villa Park, and this isn’t the only transfer that didn’t go his way during his time at Villa.

Fabian Delph left the club to join Manchester City that summer, despite pledging his future to Villa just weeks earlier, and that wasn’t the only issue Sherwood had to face.

Christian Benteke was also sold to Liverpool after the Reds triggered his release clause.

Micah Richards blamed the Benteke sale for Villa’s eventual relegation in 2016.

Meanwhile, Sherwood wanted to sign Emmanuel Adebayor to replace Benteke, but that move fell through after a so-called ‘higher power’ told Adebayor not to join Villa.

Sherwood was dealt a terrible hand at Villa, and even the best manager in the world couldn’t have flourished under those circumstances.

Sherwood hasn’t had a managerial job since leaving Villa, but perhaps he deserves another crack at a coaching role somewhere.