Greg Stobart: Sherwood a gamble worth taking for Tottenham

Even Tim Sherwood would admit that he is lucky to have landed one of the plum jobs in English football with just two games as a manager on his CV.

Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, has taken a calculated gamble in appointing Sherwood on a contract until the end of next season following Andre Villas-Boas's dismissal last week.

But for a club which has taken a punt on just about every type of manager over the last 10 years - from Glenn Hoddle to Juande Ramos to Villas-Boas - this is a gamble worth taking.

The Spurs fans hoping for a bigger name would do well to look at the record books for the two most successful managers in the club's history. Bill Nicholson and Keith Burkinshaw were both internal appointments and, like Sherwood, knew the club from top to bottom.

The 44-year-old has long been pencilled in as a future Tottenham manager with his forthright opinions, commitment to attacking football and impressive leadership.

While he has been handed an 18-month contract, the former Spurs captain knows that he is essentially on trial until the end of the season. If he is unable to clinch a top-four finish, Levy will reassess other potential managers, including Louis van Gaal and Frank de Boer.