NEW Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood said this week it was a ‘no-brainer’ to take the job and several players have already hailed his appointment.

Well, if that was an obvious fit then surely the appointment of Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke as Europe’s next Ryder Cup captain on Wednesday was even more of a shoe-in.

Clarke is a Ryder Cup great in my eyes and is the natural successor to his big pal Paul McGinlay as Europe look to keep a stranglehold on the famous old trophy across the pond next year.

With the USA due to announce their 2016 captain next week, it has been interesting to hear the debates about the respective appointments particularly in the case of the Americans.

It was blatantly obvious all was not well in the US camp last year with star player Phil Mickelson not convinced with Tom Watson’s tactics.

And therein lies the reason why Clarke is such a good choice for me.

Not only does he have experience of winning as a player four times and being vice-captain twice, he is what many sportsmen would call a ’players’ coach’ who has been in the trenches – or bunkers – alongside those players.

In any sport, the great coaches have always had the knack of getting the utmost out of their teams through man-management as much as honing their talent and tactics.

And more often than not, the response is always positive.

Knowing when to put an arm around a player; knowing what makes each of them tick – it can be pivotal in giving a team the edge in such fine margins at top-level sport.

Sam Allardyce did it at Wanderers, Sir Alex Ferguson was renowned for it at Manchester United and Bob Paisley the same at Liverpool.

You could say that same feeling exists at Wanderers at present under Neil Lennon.

Within days of taking over, an inherited squad that had slipped to the bottom of the Championship were reinvigorated.

And while he has added new faces since, many of those that seemed to have lost their belief in former boss Dougie Freedman have had a new lease of life under Lennon’s approach.

Strangely enough, Freedman himself has experienced a positive impact at this weekend’s opponents Forest following in Stuart Pearce’s shoes as he prepares to put his unbeaten start on the line against his former employers.

Both the Scot and Lennon, and indeed Sherwood, will be hoping to get that same response from their players this weekend.

It just backs up the belief that sport is as much about training the mind as the body and the relationships between staff and players – the right fit at the right time.

And when you keep the players on your side – you can go far.

One Northern Irishman is doing just that at the Macron Stadium; I just hope another can do likewise at Hazeltine in 18 months’ time.