Football
Kevin Palmer 10y

Sherwood brushes off Moyes rumours

LONDON -- Tottenham head coach Tim Sherwood has shrugged off suggestions that David Moyes is emerging as a contender to replace him at White Hart Lane next season, following his sacking at Manchester United on Tuesday.

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Tottenham were heavily linked with a move to hire Moyes during his days as Everton manager, with reports now suggesting the Scot is emerging as a leading contender for the Spurs job if, as has been mooted, Sherwood is replaced at the end of the season.

Sherwood has regularly faced questions about his future since he succeeded Andre Villas-Boas as Spurs boss last December and that continued at his latest news conference on Friday.

“David Moyes is a manager who has never been mentioned for the job [until now],” Sherwood said. “Probably one of 100 who hasn’t been mentioned. It is nothing new to me. I’m sure there will be plenty of offers for David.

“People keep throwing names at the job and all of a sudden I haven’t heard [Louis] van Gaal being mentioned for the job. Perhaps he has got another club in his sights at the moment.

“Listen, it is not up to me. I don’t hire and fire people here. It is up to the powers that be here to decide what they want to do to move this club forward.”

Sherwood offered praise for the departed Moyes, adding: "It’s obviously a shame when anyone loses their job and it’s a shame that David hadn’t been given the time. I think anyone needs the time to imprint their own style on a team and it was a tough job to follow Sir Alex Ferguson.

“Everyone knew it was going to be a tough job for anyone who went in there. A lot of those players who have been there for a long period of time have only known one manager, so to have a transition to someone else coming in the door would be very difficult.

“I’ve said previously, he [Moyes] is the hardest-working manager I’ve ever seen. Whenever I’ve ever been to a game, he is there, unless there are people with David Moyes’ masks on. The guy is everywhere. He is diligent, wants to do his job, he is hard-working and I just think he needed more time. People can’t expect miracles.”

Sherwood went on to back United interim boss Ryan Giggs to lift the club as Tottenham and United battle it out for a sixth-placed finish.

“We fully expect Man United to take maximum points, that’s why we need to take maximum points to get that last Europa League spot,” he said.

“My advice [to Giggs] is to just to try and enjoy it the best he can. It will be a complete contrast to everything he has experienced in his time at Man United.

“I heard him say it is an honour for him, as it was for me to take over this giant of a football club. It is different and he won’t appreciate how difficult it is until he stands in that technical area. He is fortunate that he has three home games and the crowd will be behind him and one away game.”

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