Sherwood's passion needed to reignite Villa TSN soccer analyst Kristian Jack grew up an Aston Villa supporter, so it's with a keen memory of the club's past that he delivers thoughts on new manager Tim Sherwood and what lays ahead for the team.

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Never in our lives do we spend more time looking up than when we are children.

It is a view that is so wonderfully innocent. It is from this vantage point that I became hooked on sport.

As a child we often rely on key influencers in our lives to show us the paths towards certain sports or teams that will sometimes make us smile and often make us cry.

For me that mentor was my Dad. We still connect to this day on my many sports because of those early days, but football was different. Both my parents stood in the famous Holte End at Villa Park way before they thought about having me. It was a precarious time to be a football supporter and my Dad's stories of travelling up and down England following Aston Villa could fill a pub two times over. In the end the violence and the anger defeated the glory and the game. Dad fell out of love with the game long before I ever went to one. To his credit he never pushed me away from the sport and from a toddler to a child I fell for his stories of Aston Villa. They were my club, where my family would meet for reunions no matter how far apart we lived, and although I grew up in the north surrounded by Liverpool and Manchester United fans at school, no amount of abuse would turn me away from them.

From an early age I would see the words Aston Villa in an article before any others. I was born into it and couldn't change. Praise the Lord.

I have thought about this a lot in the last week. I am blessed and privileged to bring information and opinions on this game for a living, but throughout that time I have never treated Villa, or any team because of them, any differently. I have too much respect for my job. I couldn't have prepared for this job without falling for some team at a young age and it just happened to be about a team I occasionally get to cover. I am at a stage in my life now where I have worked as a journalist covering this sport almost as long as I did simply as a fan.

I have never been more worried about them.

Villa are at that time again in their history. A time of transition where the old manager has been thrown out the back door just hours before the new one has been welcomed through the front.

The Villa I have known have always tended to follow the same pattern when they fire a manager. Play poorly for some time, then hit a lower level, let's call it terrible, stay with him a bit longer out of pure loyalty and then eventually push the button when they become absolutely woeful.

On Sunday that new man, Tim Sherwood, got to see first hand some of the major concerns he now takes on as he sat in the directors box watching Villa narrowly beat Leicester, 2-1, in a game that showed why both teams have struggled this season.

I watched every second of it with my son, explaining the path towards Wembley and what the win could eventually lead us to.

When we cheered, Tim cheered. It was a strange feeling. As fans of teams, we are regularly reminded not to refer to our team as 'we'. Google it. The Internet is full of columns telling you not to do it. Yet, from the moment he signed the papers on a contract Sherwood was allowed to use 'we' and as fans 'we' should welcome that. Trust me, after the last two managers, Villa fans want to see a man like Sherwood bring some bravado, charisma and passion to the club. However, it was only last season that Sherwood managed against Aston Villa for Tottenham on the final day of the season.

That day he said: "I love doing this job. My life is a lot easier if I wasn't a football manager, but I want to be one. Football is my life, it's all I know and I want to continue doing it."

Tottenham decided against that but nine months later he got his wish at Villa.

It will be 20 years next month when I remember watching Sherwood guide his Blackburn team to an enormous 1-0 win at Villa Park on their way to lifting the Premier League two months later. Sherwood was a colossus in midfield for that team, a true under-appreciated performer around much bigger names.

Now he is one of us. Fans not allowed to use 'we'? It's more appropriate if they are the ones who are allowed to use it.

Despite his history, Sherwood certainly passes the test.

He was asked at his first press conference if he was surprised how Villa had played at home. "Don't know, I haven't been a manager here yet," he said candidly. Villa fans should have united in joy. It is that kind of honesty that Villa fans have wanted from a manager and the 46-year-old knows only too well that sitting watching rubbish for the last few years has at least given Villa fans something. Knowledge about their club. First impressions mean a lot and Sherwood's honesty was praised in the Midlands. Prior to the weekend, Sherwood had no links with Villa but now we as fans look at him as the man who has to guide them out of their deepest-ever Premier League hole.

On Sunday when the home team made it 2-0 in the final minute he punched the air three times in joy of what seemed to be the club's first two-goal victory of the season. He quickly got to understand that that's not how things have operated at Villa Park. Fans don't get to enjoy comfortable victories and when Leicester made it 2-1 shortly after he got the same anxious feeling that drowned Villa Park until the final whistle calmed the nerves. It was only the fourth time that Villa had scored two goals in a game all season. Twice against Leicester, once against Hull and Bournemouth. All at home.

They are last in goals scored amongst all 92 professional clubs in the four divisions in England and dead last in the same category amongst the 98 top flight teams in Europe's top five leagues.

Star striker Christian Benteke has been a shadow of his former self. His runs are poor, he loses far too many aerial duels and his link-up play is non-existent because he spends most of the game not getting passes where he should get them. The tempo of the team in possession is slow by design because the moment they try and step it up they don't have the quality to keep the ball. In his short amount of time as a Premier League boss, this was one area Sherwood improved at Tottenham and Villa fans know they have to start scoring if they are to stay in the Premier League.

Three years ago this summer, the club convinced Paul Lambert to leave Norwich City and become the new manager. Villa fans, then, hoped he could establish a long-term vision at the club and be there for a long time. Lambert ended the 2011/12 season against Villa with their fans singing his name. He ended his tenure at Villa with the fans singing his name again; only this time they wanted him out. It is a sickening time in the away end when you are surrounded by fans that chant so aggressively towards a manager they once loved.

There will come a time when Sherwood leaves Villa but right now both the club and the man need each other. In between we stand. The minds of fans full of games of the near and distant past, looking up at a man who was odds on favourite to take over at QPR only a week ago. We'll let him in and be one of us. We are on our knees and we need him. Suddenly this view isn't so wonderful.

"We want our Villa back," was the chant during the dreadful loss at Hull last week.

We do. Take good care of them, Tim.