Hopefully Andre Villas-Boas was languishing somewhere sunny on the night of the Champions League Final in Munich - enjoying warmth of a different time zone - as his former employers put their hands on the holy grail that he had been hired to chase. Doing so also with a number of players that under his regime struggled to find place on his first team – or even his bench – and all looked very glum in AVB’s last Champions League engagement away to Napoli.
It would not have been an enjoyable one hundred and twenty minutes of football for the departed Blues manager to watch. All a long way from the fanfare that accompanied his return to Stamford Bridge – a place he had worked with Chelsea most special one, Jose Mourinho, some years earlier.
Having been in the speculation of those being chased by Liverpool, AVB claimed at the time they would only return to management with a club that has a clear vision for their future, according to his agent Carlos Goncalves. Although the 34-year-old boss has been out of work since March, when he parted company with Chelsea, he was also linked with a coaching position at Roma in Serie-A.
This week Andre Vilas-Boas starts with his latest employers Tottenham Hotspur.
Last June it was on the otherside of London that Chelsea Football Club announced it’s delighted when Andre Villas-Boas became their new manager, signing a three-year contract, and touted as an outstanding candidate for the job.
Indeed, the club statement continued claiming he was “one of the most talented young managers in football today and has already achieved much in a relatively short space of time. His ambition, drive and determination matches that of Chelsea and we are confident Andre's leadership of the team will result in greater successes in major domestic and European competitions.”
Indeed, the club statement continued claiming he was “one of the most talented young managers in football today and has already achieved much in a relatively short space of time. His ambition, drive and determination matches that of Chelsea and we are confident Andre's leadership of the team will result in greater successes in major domestic and European competitions.”
“Andre will bring his coaching experience back to a club he is already very familiar with, having previously worked here for three years. He has always been highly regarded at Chelsea and everyone here looks forward to welcoming him back and working with him.”
Not even a full year later the same coach is looking for a new job, albeit comforted by a reported pay off of £15million in his back pocket. All unimaginable financial wealth when he started put as a scout responsible for assessing opposition teams throughout Mourinho's time in charge of the famous London team.
Villas-Boas was at the Bridge between the summer of 2004 and September 2007 and remained part of Mourinho's staff until Inter Milan appointed the Special One as their coach for the 2008/09 season - allowing Andre to extend his experience at one of Europe's big clubs. As well as experiencing more trophy success as the Italian club won the Serie-A that forts year.
Shortly after the start of the following season came a chance to move into management in his own right, the offer coming from Portuguese club Academica in Coimbra where he secured the previously struggling club up to 11th in the table by the end of the season. Also reaching a League Cup semi-final place. All so good it impressed Porto sufficiently to give him the senior coaching position with less than one year's experience on the clock. Their results show he did not disappoint the faith placed in him as the club returned to win the type of silverware enjoyed under Mourinho - AVB winning the Portuguese Super Cup at the start of the season and progressing to win a domestic league and cup double.
Then a Europa League title by beating another Portuguese side, Braga, 1-0 in Dublin in May 2012 put his name on the Chelsea owners headlights. Understandable perhaps as at the age of 33, Andre became the youngest manager to win a European trophy. At home Porto had broke their own record for games unbeaten in all competitions, previously set in the Mourinho era, and played 36 times before losing a group stage League Cup game. The club scored 73 goals as they finished a record 21 points ahead of second-placed Benfica, earning praise for their attacking style of football - both at home and in Europe.
During his time Andre was the first at Chelsea to hold that new position of scout - a dedicated, full-time position - and was innovative in the use of up-to-date computer and video technology to brief the coaching staff and players on the opposition. His work played an important part in bringing back-to-back Premier League titles and FA Cup and Carling Cup victories to Stamford Bridge.
At 16 years of age, Villas-Boas had not finished his studies when he noticed that Bobby Robson, then manager of Porto, was living in the same apartment block in the Portuguese city. At that time Robson was already recognised as one of the best coaches around having achieved success with Ipswich, PSV Eindhoven and England, and was just starting life at Porto having been fired by Sporting Lisbon - despite leading the Portuguese league at the time.
The die-hard Porto fan Villas-Boas suggested Robson was making a big mistake in keeping striker Domingos Paciencia on the bench too often and the wrote raising his concerns, Promoting a response by Robson to supply data to support his argument. AVB soon did.
Bobby Robson was so impressed that he offered the Portuguese a trainee position with the youth team's coaching staff and took him under his wing, sending to Lilleshall, where he earned his coaching badges at 17 years of age.
Villas-Boas went on to gain further experience in Scotland and at Ipswich under George Burley, before returning to the Estadio Dragao.
Having learned fluent English from his grandmother, who was English, Villas-Boas jumped at the opportunity to take on the role of head coach with the British Virgin Isles. But his 18-month tenure ended after two defeats in two matches and he then returned to pursue his coaching dream at Porto, where he was offered the role as coach of the under-19 side by the new man in charge - Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho always remembered the attention to detail that Villas-Boas had in all his work and during that time Porto won two Portuguese League titles, the Portuguese Cup, the Uefa Cup and the Champions League - before the coaching due moved to London in 2004.
Whatever about needing a long term project football these days in Europe is about immediate results in championships, Europa Cup or Champions League as the prize money TV dividends - all of which pay the day to day bills and fund the super inflated transfers fees. That same rationale would apply with Liverpool’s US owners, Fenway Sports Management who are in business in a sector called sport – albeit Premier League. Their emotional tie to The Kop, Anfield may not stretch further than the club’s balance sheet or P&L – one thing that seems amiss in Villas-Boas impressive CV.
Or indeed an established history of profitable negotiations on the transfer market, which is another vital means for managers to build their reputations.
The days of working out the game time of the likes of Domingos Palacios are well and truly gone for football managers . That is the job of the number 2, coaches or Director’s of Football. And many top pliers have been very successful in that role from the historic days of Peter Taylor at Derby or Nottingham Forest, John Neeskens at Barcelona with Frank Rijkaard, Allan Harris alongside Terry Venables, Pat Rice at Arsenal. Or for many years former Republic of Ireland international Chris Hughton at Tottenham Hotspur – now successful as Birmingham City boss.
In that sense AVB is probably the best number two in the world. So seeking to be number one at Anfield would be a mistake.
©OSM -all rights reserved
First published in May 2012
First published in May 2012
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