Given a fair crack of the whip at Stamford Bridge?
Poor old…or should that be young AVB. On Sunday he joined the millions of mid-thirty year olds in the dole queue after being jettisoned from the Chelsea managers office after just eight months in charge. Barely enough time to let the paint dry and wear in the new desk chair. Lets be honest we could all hear the sound of Roman Abramovich’s axe sharpening after Gareth McAuley’s effectively put the 34-year-olds head on the Stamford Bridge chopping block. Less that 24-hours after the defeat at West Brom – a team Chelsea had beaten in 11 straight Premier League games – the Russian executioner added another head to his rapidly growing collection. Villas-Boas was dismissed after only eight months and 40-games in charge at Stamford Bridge.
The Porto native had gone the same way as five of his predecessors, which included the most successful manager in the clubs history, a World Cup champion and a four-time European/Champions League winner. Abramovich’s reputation as a ruthless terminator remains intact. A man hellbent on securing the continents premier piece of silverware yet unwilling to afford the luxury of time to anyone who dares take up the Chelsea reins. Villas-Boas was given 226 days to turn that dream into reality. Regrettably for him poor performances on the pitch and a split in the dressing room forced Abramovich’s hand after weeks of pondering. It’ll be yet another hefty payout for the billionaire Russian on top of the £13.3 million he splashed out on the Portuguese coach back in July. Many thought that figure and the prospect of incurring a huge loss on – the now affectionally know – AVB would see the Blues owner persist with him. But as we’ve come to expect with Abramovich the only method in his repair book is to sacrifice the man in the dugout.
Once again Chelsea are back to square one leaving the neutrals deliberating over whether AVB was given a fair crack of the whip.
It was always going to be tough for him. The minute his name was mentioned he was immediately compared to former boss Jose Mourinho. His four year spell in West London saw the Blues prosper winning two league titles, two League Cups and an FA Cup. Inevitably the now Real Madrid boss fell out with Abramovich and eventually bit the Russian’s bullet. But the comparisons were already set in stone before AVB had even signed on the dotted line. Both managers had enjoyed fruitful periods in charge at Porto winning Primeira Liga and a European trophy in the same season. As soon as a move to Chelsea came to light the expectation levels escalated to the levels set by the Special One prior to his departure in late 2007. His popularity with players and fans was always going to tough to match for anyone taking up the manager’s position.
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As expected he never managed to reach those heights during his brief tenure although he was never given a chance to ride a transitional period after replacing Carlo Ancelotti at the helm. It was always going to be a struggle for AVB to exert control and authority over a dressing room containing players of a similar age. It’s been well documented in the national press that senior players like Frank Lampard and John Terry were unhappy with their manager in the months leading up to his sacking. There was no way they would allow some mid-thirties foreigner to break up a side that had played it’s part in Chelsea’s most affluent era. A juvenile refusal to buy into AVB’s methods that had brought him success in Portugal saw the club falter on the pitch. Their title challenge extinguished before February and on the verge of a Champions League knockout. They even opposed his micro-management eventually becoming irritated by the constant time keeping he carried out. Abramovich held them all directly accountable for his untimely demise. Sadly the trials that faced him from the offset all pointed to a scenario like this playing out.
You have to admire the ferocious dedication he put into the task in hand trying to answer every question asked by the media and sometimes sleeping in his office at the training ground. His professionalism was second to none refusing to even engage in personal relationships with players and staff. Regrettably he failed to notice how alienated the two groups had become from him before it was too late. He became obsessed with pleasing Abramovich ultimately failing to notice the division in a hostile dressing room that needed repairing. It’s an issue he’ll need to closely address in his next position. The trials and tribulations of managing Chelsea football club proved too heavy for such a young man to carry alone on his shoulders. A dressing room crowded with egotistical rebels was always going to be difficult to govern for a man of AVB’s tender years. But you have to give him praise for his tenacity and resolve even when the early battle lines were drawn by the players. There is no doubt he’ll land on his feet and eventually come back to bite those who stabbed him in the back.
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As for Chelsea, where and who do they turn to next? The manager’s position has become a poisoned chalice during Abramovich’s reign and it will take more of the Russian’s millions to tempt anyone into filling one of football’s toughest assignments. Whoever said you could buy success?
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