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Tim Sherwood has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at Aston Villa’s infamous transfer committee and declared: ‘No-one knows the Premier League more than me.’

Paddy Riley, Henrik Almstadt and former CEO Tom Fox were responsible for the bulk of recruitment in summer 2015 as the club looked to replace the previous campaign’s star performers Ron Vlaar, Fabian Delph, Tom Cleverley and Christian Benteke.

No fewer than 12 players arrived at Villa Park that summer but should Jordan Veretout and Jordan Amavi, as expected, depart during this transfer window, only Mark Bunn and Micah Richards will remain on the books.

And Sherwood, who was sacked just 10 league games into the 2015/16 campaign, is still angry about the way his time at Villa Park was cut short.

Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, Sherwood said: “I’m really disappointed with the way I was treated to be perfectly honest. It’s a great club. If you look at it in the cold light of day, coming in, keeping them in the division and taking them to a Cup Final - then four of your best players get taken out your team.

“It’s difficult. Then you only get a short period at the beginning of next season to try and put it right. It’s very disappointing.”

Sherwood’s FA Cup semi-final triumph over Liverpool was the highest point of former chairman Randy Lerner’s reign, but the shock departure of captain Delph and talisman Benteke prompted a rebuild just a few short months later.

Vlaar, who had been instrumental during his three seasons at the club, was moved on due to his ongoing injury troubles and Cleverley decided against making his loan move from Manchester United permanent when Everton came calling.

“They were key players,” Sherwood added. “Ron Vlaar we would have loved to have kept. He was just coming off the back of a World Cup and if he was fit we’d have loved to have kept him.

“Tom Cleverley was another who I had fire in and I wanted to keep and he left as well. So when four of your starters get ripped away from you and you replace them with people who are unproven in the Premier League, it’s always going to be difficult.

“There’s not many there who settled. We will have to say that it probably wasn’t a success on the recruitment side.

“You need support from the board and the owners and at the time - I’ve got a lot of respect for Randy Lerner, he lost a lot of money and I like him as an individual - but I think he was a little misguided and sometimes you’ve got to trust people who know the game.

“I know the Premier League, it’s been going for 25 years and I’ve been involved in it for 22 and that’s playing, coaching and managing.

“No-one knows the Premier League more than me. I know what it takes to recruit a player who is capable of playing in it but unfortunately that was taken away from me.”

Sherwood was speaking at Belfry Golf Club, where he will be taking part in the Icons of Football Tournament over the weekend.

Ryder Cup heroes Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood will be leading star-studded teams including Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, Argentina great Gabriel Batistuta and Dutch maestro Ronald de Boer.

Former Villa favourites Peter Schmeichel, James Milner, Kevin Phillips, Dwight Yorke, Dean Saunders and Patrik Berger will also be hitting the course.