Kieran Richardson has claimed that Tim Sherwood has displayed his "great man-management skills" during the early stages of his reign at Aston Villa.

Sherwood was appointed as the successor to Paul Lambert in February and has managed to guide the team to the brink of securing their Premier League status.

"The manager has that aura where you feel he is going to succeed. Even when we went to Spurs, his old club, on Saturday – you believed we would win. He is going to do well for Villa and have a long career in management," Richardson told The Mirror.

"The new manager has been a breath of fresh air. He has great man-management skills. Sometimes he's almost one of the lads, but when he needs to be firm, he has that presence about him."

Villa face Liverpool for a place in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.