SWINDON Town made the national headlines earlier this month when they appointed Tim Sherwood as their director of football.

The former Tottenham manager, 47, had been without a job since being sacked by Aston Villa in October 2015.

Swindon head coach Luke Williams, who signed a five-year deal in March, remained in his role at the club, who made an inauspicious start to the season but claimed a creditable 1-1 draw at Southend in midweek.

“This is one of the biggest appointments the club has ever made,” chairman Lee Power, a former City striker, said upon Sherwood’s unveiling.

“We’re still a bit shocked that we’ve managed to persuade Tim to take it on.

“We’re very mindful not to use the title ‘manager’ – it’s not a demotion for Luke Williams. He’ll be head coach still. Tim will be running training alongside (Luke).”

Sherwood added: “I like this club. I’ve got a soft spot for it. This is a good opportunity for me to get back onto the training field. I’ll be in the dressing room, I’ll be talking to the boys and giving them some words of wisdom.”

Power said that Sherwood would “head up all aspects, including transfers, the way we play, the formations and the picking of the team”, implying a strong level of day-to-day involvement.

In his eight months in charge of Villa, Sherwood reached the FA Cup final before he was sacked, with the club bottom of the top flight.

Sherwood, who won the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers in 1995, was a team-mate of Power at Norwich City in the early 90s.

But it is Williams who remains in charge of the team and he was left hugely encouraged by his side’s midweek display at Roots Hall, where City were beaten 3-0 last Saturday.

Speaking after the 1-1 draw, he said: “It proved that there is a fighting spirit in there and I thought they really had to weather a storm against a team that have got a lot of threats, so that is really encouraging.”

“The players realised that this team (Southend) could be got at and they could afford to attack with more players and be a little bit braver, and that’s what they did."