Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood feels sympathy for Chris Hughton in the wake of his sacking by Norwich City.

Sherwood, whose own future at White Hart Lane has also been the subject of scrutiny in the last few days, was disappointed to see the 55-year-old lose his job after the 1-0 defeat to West Brom on Saturday.

'I know Chris personally, and he's a good guy,' said the Spurs boss, who played for the Canaries. 'He did his best at the club and for anyone to lose their job is upsetting for any manager to see.

'We're all in it together, we all want to see each other do well but sadly it's the decision that's been made.

'When Chris goes, someone else will come in and unfortunately that's the nature of the game.'

Former Republic of Ireland boss Brian Kerr, who had Hughton as his international assistant, described the Norwich board's decision as 'absolute panic'.

'It is absolute panic but then they've been panicking for a good while,' said Kerr. 'A couple of months ago, the club's chief executive David McNally said if they were relegated it would be worse than dying and they seemed to be lining Chris up for the sack even then. But now it's sheer panic because I fail to see the logic of putting the youth team fella in.

'Not alone have they got rid of Chris, they've got rid of his assistants Colin Calderwood and Paul Trollope and replaced them with the youth team manager for what is now the five most crucial games of the season.

'The thing is they probably only need a maximum of four points although if they don't get them on Saturday [against Fulham] then they really are in trouble, and you've got a guy in place who doesn't have any experience of managing against those teams or knows the teams the way Chris and his staff would. I know Chris and his energy and I know Colin Calderwood a bit as well and they would have been putting in massive hours. So I do think this is crazy stuff.'

Kerr believes Hughton was ultimately a victim of supporters' unrealistic expectations.

'Because he got them to 11th last year I think the expectation was that they would be a top-10 team this year.'