AVB: Chelsea had to sack me

Current Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas has finally admitted that Chelsea had to sack him for a change in results.

AVB was sacked after only 8 months in charge, despite Roman Abramovich paying Porto €15Million to break his contract and getting the Ex-Porto manager to sign a five-year deal.

The Portuguese manager tried to shuffle the experienced players around too much, which caused conflict in the dressing room. He lost the respect of club captain John Terry along with Chelsea favourites Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard, leaving Roman Abramovich no choice but to relieve him of his duties.

AVB’s assistant Roberto Di Matteo was put in temporary charge, and repaid the faith in him with FA Cup and Champions League glory.

Villas-Boas said: “I watched it [Champions League final], but not right to the end. There were players in the dressing room that I liked a lot, and to whom I could only wish the best. It wasn’t easy for me to leave. I congratulated certain people with whom I’d worked there, those who had given everything, who were my friends.”

The Spurs boss was disappointed not to of been given more time to turn things around, but accepts Chelsea had no choice.

“I think that I could have been given the chance to continue. But I’m well aware that the change was the only way to have an impact in terms of results,” he added. “When you’re in that negative spiral, there are two sorts of reaction: either you stick to your project for the future and the people who are part of it, or you want immediate success. In that case, you have to change everything.”

Roman was hasty in paying so much to hire AVB, and was just as hasty in sacking him. He should not have risked so much cash on a manager who was still in an early stage in his career. It all worked out in the end with our Champions League success, but we need a long-term manager now. Jose to the rescue?