AVB starts with a bang as Roman gets rocket
That is the day Chelsea visit Tottenham, and Andre Villas-Boas gets his first chance of revenge on the club — and, more specifically, the man — who sacked him in March.
AVB was unveiled as Tottenham’s manager yesterday, but it was not like those ceremonies when a cloth is pulled away to reveal a pristine statue.
Instead of being still and silent, the Portuguese was a veritable man o’war and was happy to dish the dirt on Roman Abramovich, claim credit for Chelsea’s Champions League success, explain why Luka Modric’s imminent departure would not derail Tottenham’s title tilt, and more.
Hell may hath no fury like a woman scorned, it is true, but a feisty young manager sacked unfairly — in his eyes — by a Russian oligarch is not far behind.
Having kept his counsel during the four months he was out of work, AVB did not hold back when asked about his acrimonious departure from Chelsea.
“The decision to terminate what was going on at Chelsea was not mine, it was the owner’s,” he said, unable or unwilling to utter Abramovich’s name. “It was the owner who dismissed me and the owner who decided to cut short the project. Chelsea were still in the Champions League and the FA Cup. I had the opportunity to win them cut short when I was also just three points off fourth position. And this is what I recall from the day when I was sacked. I respected the decision of the owner of Chelsea but I will never accept it.
“I told him that it was him quitting on me when he had been so much involved in the beginning in bringing me in and he was the one also who was not putting up the things he promised.”
But Villas-Boas insists he is not bitter.
“It was a tremendous learning experience which I am grateful to have gone through because it makes me a better coach and a better person.”
And it is these qualities that allow him and Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, to believe he can take the club higher than Harry Redknapp, who achieved successive finishes of fourth, fifth and fourth before leaving acrimoniously last month.
“It’s a privilege and an honour to be given this position and this squad, after they did wonderfully last season, and the seasons before,” said Villas-Boas. “Hopefully I can build on from what Harry left me with, pushing towards even more ambition and towards even more titles.”
He made it clear he had turned down overtures from other clubs, including Roma and Liverpool, because he sees Spurs as ambitious, opening their state-of-the-art training complex for the first time yesterday, and with the redevelopment of White Hart Lane already under way.
“After I left Chelsea I had discussions with various different clubs. I became very precise and meticulous on the next step that I was taking.
“Spurs is a club of great tradition and it was this sharing of ideas that made me accept the offer. And it’s fantastic to be able to return to what is arguably the best league in the world.”
Ironically, one of his first tasks will be to persuade Modric to stay, having spent last summer trying to get the Croatian to go to Chelsea.
He does not expect to succeed, with Modric set on a move, most likely to Real Madrid.
“If the player’s ambition is to move to another club, we can respect that decision, but the chairman will defend our interests and I think only when the right offer is met, will there be more news.”
Levy has promised him more signings, including last season’s loan star Emmanuel Adebayor, to join Jan Vertonghen from Ajax and Gylffi Sigurdsson from Hoffenheim, and AVB expects his new chairman to honour his word — unlike some others.
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