Former Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish says that he expects Tim Sherwood to be a success at Aston Villa after having witnessed the club avoid relegation comfortably and also reach the FA Cup final last season.

Sherwood was appointed as the replacement for Paul Lambert midway through the last season. Immediately upon his arrival, results showed a distinct improvement while Villa started playing better football. However, the former Tottenham manager has a big job on his hands to keep star striker Christian Benteke at the club next season. The 15 goals scored by the forward was important in keeping the club in the Premier League.

McLeish had a stint at Villa a few years ago before being replaced by Lambert. It was during the regime of the former Birmingham manager that the club slipped quite regularly into the drop zone. It appears that they have not recovered from it since then. Sherwood, though, cannot be blamed much since he was appointed just a few months after the close of the relegation zone. Even though Villa reached the final of the FA Cup, they were unable to end their trophy drought in this competition after being beaten 4-0 by Arsenal. There have been numerous transfer rumours surrounding Benteke during the off-season.

“I went in there for a year and, okay, I wasn’t the most welcome manager in the world having come from Birmingham. I think people thought Paul Lambert was going to make it all turn magic again but now Tim is in and there is a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel with the cup final, although they were well beaten in that particular final.I’m sure Tim Sherwood has got good ideas. I don’t know Tim that well but whenever I’ve met him he’s a confident, positive guy and he could be what the club needs,” said McLeish.