Andre Villas-Boas has today been sacked by Chelsea FC after just nine in charge. Last summer Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich paid almost 15 million to prise Andre Villas-Boas away from Porto after a stunning season saw Porto win the Europa League as well as the domestic league and cup double. Villas-Boas spent time as Jose Mourinho's assistant coach at Porto and then followed Mourinho to Chelsea and followed again to Inter Milan. At the beginning of the 2009-2010 season he took charge of Portuguese side Academica where he spent a season before moving on to take charge of Porto. In his year in charge at Porto they went undefeated during the league with 27 wins and just 3 draws and then he became the youngest manager to ever win a European competition. Just a month after Porto's Europa League success, Chelsea announced the appointment of AVB as there new manager with immediate effect. Roman Abramovich paid the 15 million necessary to activate the release clause in his contract.
During pre-season Chelsea won all six games and only conceded one goal and their prospects for the upcoming season looked promising. Unfortunatey for Chelsea the season was not as successful as it seemed it would. A good start to the season seemed to suggest Chelsea had finally found stability and from the beginning of the season until October 23rd they had only lost once in all competitions, a 3-1 loss to Man United. On that day things began to change for the 33 year old manager. Two sending offs and a 1-0 defeat to QPR was overshadowed by the alleged racist remarks made by captain John Terry to Anton Ferdinand. A week later and Chelsea's high line defence was exposed time and again by a struggling Arsenal side. November saw Chelsea pick up just two wins in all competitions while suffering losses to Bayer Leverkusen and Liverpool (twice). They seemed to be back on track with comfortable wins over Newcastle and Valencia before handing Man City their first defeat but since that win on December 12th they have only had five wins. February saw Chelsea throw away a three goal lead against Man United before losing to Everton and then drawing with Birmingham in the FA Cup. A loss to Napoli in the Champions League piled more pressure on AVB and Saturday's loss to West Brom was as much as Abramovich could take and on Sunday Villas-Boas took charge of training before being told he was to be sacked with immediate effect. So the question is was it the right thing to do?
When Villas-Boas held his first press conference it was clear he believed that this was a long term project. He wanted to bring his philosophy to Chelsea. But as we've learned over the past nine seasons Abramovich is a very difficult man to please. Carlo Ancelotti won the FA cup, Premier League and Community Shield but was still sacked. Jose Mourinho won two league title, the FA Cup, two Carling Cups and the Community Shield and he also made Chelsea a force in Europe but he didn't last either. Avram Grant brought them to their first Champions League final where they lost on penalties but days later he was sacked. Luiz Felipe Scolari, Claudio Ranieri and Guus Hiddink have also been there and gone in recent years.
At this stage I think Chelsea needs a complete restructuring. The players have got too much say in what happens at the club and Abramovich is too heavily fixed on winning the Champions League. The players under AVB simply didn't perform to the best of their ability. There is no doubt Villas-Boas is a quality manager as his record with Porto in just one year proves. His attacking style is refreshing and could well have reaped the rewards if Abramovich had been more patient. The fact that Abramovich has now sacked eight managers in nine seasons is disgraceful. There is no stability in the club whatsoever. He went all out to get AVB and it seemed then that he was going to finally bring the stability to the club that is clearly needed. Getting rid of Villas-Boas is only going to be a short term solution. The next manager will have to start all over and try inherit his own style on the squad. The squad is now getting older and very few young players are coming through and so if Abramovich is too finally bring the club to the top he is going to eventually have to spend very big in the transfer markets. Abramovich had two choices after the defeat at West Brom, he could either come out and publicly back Villas-Boas' long term project or come out and back his ageing squad who weren't performing. He chose to back the players and sakc Villas-Boas. In my opinion it was the wrong decision.
I think Villas-Boas proved in the summer he knows how to negotiate the transfer market. Juan Mata was a brilliant signing and has been a shining light in a dark season for Chelsea. Oriel Romeu was an astute signing and looks a top player. Villas-Boas should have been given the time to transform the club. Abramovich should have stuck with him until the end of the season and then clear the dressing room of the underperforming players and bring in those who Villas-Boas believed would fit his philosophy. With the money they have access to he could have bought anyone he wanted. The next manager is now going to have to come in this summer and wait until after the European Championships to see his squad and decide who he wants to keep and what positions he needs to buy. A manager with the policies Villas-Boas has was always going to need a season to see how his side shaped up and where they were weak. I think if he had a world class right back the defence would have been stronger and everything would have been different. Under AVB the full backs had licence to go forward. Ashley Cole had the quality going forward and he never neglected his defensive duties. Alex, Ivanovic and David Luiz aren't good enough centre halfs for a club of Chelsea's stature. The signs were there that AVB was building for the future. Gary Cahill us a quality centre half and would have had a strong partnership with John Terry had Terry been available regularly. Jose Bosingwa was steadily improving at right back and beginning to learn his new role. Essiens return provides a top centre midfielder and AVB might have needed just one central midfielder to provide the stability needed to protect the high line defence and support the three attackers. Sturridge and Mata are top players that have had good seasons and provided Torres with plenty of chances that he squandered. A top striker would get plenty of goals with the attacking style. At times this season we saw what Chelsea can do when they knocked in goals for fun and I think had he been given time to develop his squad this summer we could have seen a strong Chelsea side next season.
As it stands Roberto Di Matteo has got a difficult task of trying to get Chelsea into the top four. If they don't make the Champions League then the quality of manager they can attract will be lessened. Chelsea will now have to search for a new manager to guide Roman Abramovich in his obsession with the Champions League. The further instability that AVB's sacking brings leaves Chelsea searching for a new manager and if Abramovich gets it wrong and gets the wrong man Chelsea will plunge further down the list of top English clubs and may not get back into that top four regularly. Soon enough Chelsea fans have to wonder whether Abramovich is doing whats right for the club anymore.
Villas-Boas will find work again very soon if he wants it and when he finds the club that will give him a chance to implement his philosophies and give him the time to develop the squad he wants we will see what Abramovich missed out on and why his sacking was the wrong decision. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger were both given the time to prove themselves and as a result brought huge success to Manchester United and Arsenal respectively. They are now two of the best managers of all time and are prime examples of why managers need to be given the time and backing to succeed. I really think Abramovich has got it wrong in sacking AVB and will regret it when Villas-Boas proves his worth at another top club.
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