New Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood on Tuesday spoke of his pride after being appointed as the club's head coach on a permanent basis.
Spurs announced on Monday that Sherwood has been awarded a contract until the end of next season, a week after Andre Villas-Boas was sacked following a chastening 5-0 home defeat by Liverpool.
Sherwood, 44, has no prior experience of first-team management, but having played for Spurs for four years and been a member of the coaching set-up since 2008, he says that he understands what the club stands for.
"It's an honour to be head coach of this top club," Sherwood told the club's in-house television channel, Spurs TV.
"It's a club that means an awful lot to me and a proud moment. If you cut me in half, I bleed the colour of the club. It means an awful lot to me. Blood is thicker than water, as they say.
"I've known it from the grass roots right up to the first team, worked at every level of the football club and played here, so I know it better than most.
"Hopefully that will stand me in good stead taking this club forward as head coach."
Sherwood was initially placed in temporary charge following Villas-Boas's departure, overseeing a 2-1 loss at home to West Ham United in the League Cup and a 3-2 win at Southampton in the league on Sunday.
Despite spending £105 million ($171 million, 124 million euros) on new players in the close season, Spurs lie seventh in the table, but Sherwood is confident that the squad is fully equipped for a tilt at a top-four finish.
"We have good players here and if we apply ourselves well, get the players playing as they can and get the right players on the ball in the correct areas, then we can hurt any team we play against," he said.
Sherwood will take charge of Spurs for the first time since his appointment on a permanent basis was confirmed when West Bromwich Albion visit White Hart Lane on Thursday.
Source: AFP
