Wilkins: Sherwood would have kept Villa up

Former Aston Villa assistant manager, Ray Wilkins, believes Tim Sherwood would have kept Villa up, had he not been sacked in October.

With Villa’s relegation to the Championship looking likely to be confirmed this weekend, Wilkins believes that Sherwood should have been given the time and opportunity to turn things around at Villa Park.

Sherwood and Wilkins were dismissed after Villa lost to Swansea on the 24th October, which was Villa’s sixth consecutive defeat in the league. The game against Swansea also meant Villa’s winless run extend to nine games after victory against Bournemouth on the opening day of the season.

Speaking to Talksport, Wilkins was asked if he and Sherwood could have kept Villa up.

His response was:

Yes, I believe we could have done.

We never got trounced. We never got badly beaten. I think we were just on the brink of doing really well.

Since the departure of Sherwood and Wilkins at the end of October, Villa have managed to win only two league games and pick up a further twelve points.

Wilkins was also said that Villa’s relatively tough opening games was a reason as to why Villa were struggling for points at the start of the season and also lamented Villa’s collapse away to Leicester, which saw Villa let a 2-0 goal lead slip with 20 minutes to go, with Leicester eventually winning 3-2.

We played some very tough opponents in the early stages of the season and we’re probably one of the only teams who had the opportunity to beat Leicester.

I honestly feel that with the staff and the players we had that we could have staved off relegation.

Do you agree with Ray Wilkins?