Aston Villa sack manager Tim Sherwood

Aston Villa have sacked their manager Tim Sherwood.

The 46-year-old had been under increasing pressure after a record of eight defeats in their opening ten Premier League games, including yesterday's 2-1 defeat by Swansea which marked the team's sixth straight loss in the league.

Assistant manager Ray Wilkins, first-team coach Mark Robson and performance analyst Seamus Brady have also left with immediate effect, with Kevin MacDonald taking over as interim manager.

A statement on Villa's website claimed results this season had not been good enough and that change was "imperative".

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It continued: "The club would like to place on record its sincere thanks to Tim for all his efforts during a difficult period last season and for the many positive contributions he has made to the entire football setup during his time with the club.

"We wish him well in the future."

Sherwood replaced Paul Lambert at the Villa helm in February with the club mired in the relegation zone and was able to mastermind an escape, while also leading them to the FA Cup final, where they were beaten 4-0 by Arsenal.

But they lost key men in the shape of Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph over the summer and despite a spend of more than £50million, which saw the arrival of 13 new players, Sherwood has struggled to mould his new squad into a cohesive unit.

Villa won their opening game of the season at Bournemouth but have picked up just one point since, losing four out of five games at home.

Sherwood departs having overseen just 28 games in all competitions - the shortest spell of any permanent Villa manager.

[breakout title="Watch Sherwood's post-match interview from yesterday's -1 defeat by Swansea"][video][/breakout]

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