The ace up Villas-Boas’ sleeve is the fact that Abramovich shrugged of boardroom discontent and scepticism by headhunting Villas-Boas against the wishes of the majority of the board. He also paid £13.3million to release him from his contract at FC Porto which is a staggering amount for a manager. It would take a huge amount of courage and pride-swallowing on Abramovich’s part to admit he was wrong and dismiss the manager. Don’t forget this is a man who has had everything go his way in life and is not used to getting things wrong.
A problem that has arisen for Abramovich due to his hire-and-fire attitude is that he has drained the world of most of its best managers. There are only so many great managers a club can have before the standard starts to decrease as they have all been tried. Claudio Ranieri who was there when Abramovich took over was fired eight years ago and is now at Inter Milan. Then Mourinho came along and brought nothing but success. Nevertheless, the undermining of his authority brought about a mutual termination. Avram Grant was never good enough anyway and is now at FK Partizan. Luis Felipe Scolari was a dramatic failure and was never the club’s first choice.
Guus Hiddink was only there temporarily and doesn’t seem to have the appetite to return to the rigours of club management. Carlo Ancelotti delivered Chelsea’s first double in his first season but a disappointing 2nd place finish the next season saw his dismissal and is now at oil-rich PSG in France. These were world-class managers disposed of like they were going out of fashion. The next question is – who would replace Andre Villas-Boas? The three best managers are already taken. Sir Alex Ferguson would never leave Manchester United; why would Pep Guardiola leave Barcelona and Jose Mourinho surely wouldn’t return to manage the club he left to be undermined by the same owner again. After that there are no better managers than those that have been at Chelsea previously.
In the Premier League, Roberto Mancini is at a better club, Harry Redknapp looks destined for the England job, Arsene Wenger is happy at Arsenal and wouldn’t destroy his legacy by joining Chelsea. Why not plump for an overachieving domestic boss like David Moyes or Alan Pardew?
Regardless of all the speculation above, it is my opinion that Abramovich should desert his trigger-happy ways and look for stability and a sustainable future. He hired Villas-Boas not for immediate success but to build a legacy for the future. He should stick to that principle. It has always baffled me why Abramovich hasn’t followed the examples of Manchester United and Arsenal, incidentally the two most successful teams of the Premier League era. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, Manchester United and Arsenal respectively, have proved that continuity breeds continuous success.
They have been at their clubs for 40 years between them and dominated English football during the nineties, the early noughties and the late noughties in Ferguson’s case. Why didn’t he follow their model? Maybe the phrase, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, isn’t common in the streets of Moscow.
Enough is enough, Abramovich.
Introducing the neat little app that’ll pay you to view content tailored to your interests:
ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.
you are right in saying that chelsea need a clear out of their so called stars, villas-boas needs time maybe two seasons at the most to bring in fresh talented players who will play for him, many at the club really believe they are untouchable,it showed this week when they were brought in for a meeting and extra training, they were tweeting and showing their disgust at the thought of having to do a little more, poor sods unable to have the time to screw other players wives, my stomach still turns after all these years remembering ashley coles comments of almost crying when arsenal offered him only £60,000 a week.