Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has revealed that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy wanted him to stay at the club after he was sacked as head coach in May.

Sherwood had stepped in for the departed Andres Villa-Boas in January last year and stayed in the job for five months before being replaced by Mauricio Pochettino last summer.

Ahead of Villa's trip to White Hart Lane on Saturday, Sherwood said: "Daniel knew me for a lot of years. It wasn't as if I fell off my chair and said 'you're joking'. I knew it was coming.

"I was disappointed I was leaving the football club, yes, but Daniel didn't want the divorce, he wanted me to stay in some kind of capacity. But I'm a manager now.

"He didn't say what job. I was looking at eyeing up the broom cupboards and all that. It's been great for me. It's turned out brilliantly and I thank Daniel Levy for that."