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Mark Hughes backs Tim Sherwood appointment at Aston Villa

Stoke manager Mark Hughes has welcomed Tim Sherwood back to the top flight and wants British coaches to keep flying the flag.

The Britannia Stadium boss faces Sherwood's Aston Villa on Saturday and is eager to continue the tradition of a post-match chat.

Ex-Tottenham chief Sherwood replaced Paul Lambert last weekend and takes charge for the first time against the Potters, with Villa third from bottom in the Premier League table.

Hughes insists there is an understanding between British bosses and wants that unity to continue.

"He's a good British manager. Sometimes with foreign ownership they look to appoint managers from outside these shores," he said, with Stoke 10th in the top flight.

"But the American owners have done their due diligence and that's a good thing.

"There's a solidarity between British managers. We're probably the only ones that go into rooms after games.

"It's a little bit of a new thing for foreign managers, it's not something they do.

"Win, lose or draw you always go and congratulate your hosts, or commiserate with them hopefully.

"We'll go in. We've always gone in at Villa and had a good welcome. After the Spurs game last year they all came in to our room and vice versa."

Hughes is hunting a reaction following Stoke's 4-1 humbling at Blackburn in the FA Cup last weekend.

The Potters could have Jonathan Walters, Stephen Ireland, Marc Wilson and Erik Pieters back to boost their squad, although are without the suspended Geoff Cameron and injured Ryan Shawcross.

Stand-in skipper Glenn Whelan called the Blackburn defeat the worst performance he had ever seen from a Stoke side following their fifth-round exit.

But Hughes insisted Whelan's passion is key to showing the players care about results.

"Glenn was the skipper and as disappointed as the rest of us. He was probably emotional but it was understandable given the circumstances," Hughes said.

"We let everyone down and ourselves down but it's gone now and we can't dwell on it.

"He was spokesman so I don't have a problem with players expressing themselves. It's no problem.

"People needed to know that we, as a group, understood that we let people down.

"Why would you want to take passion out of it? It's an emotional, emotive game and at times that is why people react in a certain way to defeat."

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