Friday, 20th February

Kevin MacDonald returns to Villa as Sherwood’s assistant manager, and the appointment is mostly greeted with positivity.  There were also some very negative comments but I agree with the vast majority in this case. Lambert seemed to need a ‘bad cop’ as his number 2 but I get the impression that Sherwood is more likely to need a ‘good cop’ as his; KMac fits that.

Sherwood talks big about leaving a legacy at Spurs. I'm not going to lie, I felt a bit underwhelmed about his arrival and I can’t say I have much of a feeling either way about him yet, because despite feeling that way, I was impressed with the revival against Leicester.

I also have mixed feelings about the man himself rather than manager. Part of me likes having a media-friendly personality again rather than the dourness of recent managers. At the same time though, he needs to back up what he says, because if he doesn't, then far more important than it reflecting on him, it will also reflect badly on Aston Villa.

There’s a chance to start with that tomorrow.

Saturday 21st February

That chance wasn't taken, as we lost 2-1 at home to Stoke.

So here is the thing. We scored a first half goal for the first time in a while, and there were certain positives; Scott Sinclair scored and looked good, for one.

On the flip side, there is clearly still a bit of a Lambert-hangover there.

I felt like we were a bit unlucky to go in level, and overall Stoke certainly couldn't have complained about getting a point. But two awful defensive lapses cost us, and the problem is that right now we’re not good enough to cancel out these mistakes.

Right now, at 22.58 on Saturday, 21st February 2015, I expect we’re going down. I hope I feel silly for saying that before the season is out.

In other news, if you’re wondering if the ladies are doing any better, they’re not. They lost 5-0 in a pre-season friendly against Man City.

However the U18 side did manage a win, 3-0 away to Southampton. Rushian Hepburn-Murphy not only scored twice, but he also has a brilliant name; Rory Hale got the other.

Sunday, 22nd February

It’s 11.23pm. Nothing of note has happened today. Just match reports in the media, and a fan base that’s seemingly numb.

Monday, 23rd February

Tim Sherwood appoints Tony Parks as goalkeeping coach. That’s your lot for today.

Tuesday, 24th February

So ‘The Secret Footballer’ states that Randy Lerner has agreed to sell us to the Phoenix Group. I don’t *know* that he’s wrong, but this feels like an attempt for attention/traffic.

A scroll down NewsNow and every other link seems to be about Darren Bent scoring goals for Derby. I have mixed feelings on Bent but the simplest way I can sum it up, is what it all comes back to is there was no justification for him being behind Jordan Bowery in the pecking order; yet another managerial master-stroke from Paul Lambert. 

Okay so it’s now just gone 5.30pm and various other sources have picked up on Lerner selling. However I will need to see more reliable sources than the likes of Indy Kalia before I start to believe it.

Wednesday, 25th February

Following on from yesterday, J*mes N*rsey of the M*rror reports that Lerner is now willing to accept £150m. Depending on what you hear, that was already an acceptable figure, but hey, hacks need to fill inches in rags.

Thursday 26th February

Tim Sherwood says that he’s targeting 6 wins between now and the end of the season. Maybe he’s including the FA Cup in that…

Apparently he’s also been talking to Benteke. If he can get him scoring, that would be pretty darn handy at this stage.

Finally, John Carver talks about wanting to condemn us further to relegation as revenge for a few years ago. I can understand that from Newcastle fans, but from a member of their senior staff, I find that too petty for my liking. Still, if our players have any pride left, that’s Sherwood’s team talk done for him.