Tottenham Hotspur have appointed André Villas-Boas as their new manager less than a month after they sacked Harry Redknapp.
Is this a good move?
The former Chelsea boss reportedly fought off competition from the likes of Fabio Capello, Jurgan Klinsmann and Laurent Blanc to get the post. Spurs have insisted that Villas-Boas was their number one target though.
AVB has a fantastic football record but he just couldn’t capitalise on this during his time in West London. Some say he didn’t have the dressing room or the respect of the players, others say he just didn’t have enough time to make a difference. He was sacked by Chelsea less than a year into a three-year contract, after which assistant manager Roberto Di Matteo took over as caretaker. Di Matteo in turn managed to win Chelsea the European Championship – the second of their two football trophies last season (after the FA Cup) and a coveted prize for owner Roman Abramovich.
Whether Chelsea would have been able to pull this feat off if AVB had still been the manager remains to be seen. Di Matteo did not buy or sell any players after Villas-Boas was sacked, so the potential was clearly there. It could be that a different approach to using football training equipment was the catalyst for the Blues.
Either way, the Portuguese has signed a three-year deal with Spurs, who will hopefully give him more time and patience so that he has the chance to finish a Premier League season. It’s a tough competition though, and he has very large boots to fill. Redknapp guided Tottenham to two top four finishes in four seasons – a placing not achieved for many years before he came along – and collectively pulled up the club’s football socks. He nurtured a strong team, with young talent such as Gareth Bale and Kyle Walker rising to the fore.
Spurs chairman David Levy has mentioned on the club’s website that one of the reasons they chose Villas-Boas is because of his “outstanding reputation and technical knowledge”, citing his ability to create “well organised teams capable of playing football in an attractive and attacking style”. He’s not wrong – AVB’s record is sparkling, if you forget the Chelsea episode. He won the domestic double as well as the Europa League at Porto in 2010-11 and for a 34 year old’s first managerial appointment that’s a very good record. The Portuguese domestic league and the English Premier League are very different though, and he failed prove his credentials when in charge of the chaps in the Chelsea football kit.
Villas Boas has said that the Spurs job is “one of the most exciting coaching positions in the Premier League” and he believes they have one of the best teams in the league – “Together I believe we can bring success in the seasons ahead”. Hopefully he will have the opportunity to spend seasons with Tottenham as opposed to the majority of a season that he spent at Chelsea.
It will certainly be an interesting clash of teams when they first meet on October 20th at White Hart Lane.
Image Rights: Ronnie Macdonald
