Author Topic: Tottenham sack Villas-Boas  (Read 1947 times)

celeste

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Tottenham sack Villas-Boas
« on: 17:46:36, 16/12/13 »
Tottenham have sacked manager Andre Villas-Boas in the wake of Sunday's 5-0 Premier League thrashing by Liverpool.
The loss was the club's worst at White Hart Lane in 16 years and left them seventh in the table - eight points behind leaders Arsenal.
   Analysis Image of Ian Dennis Ian Dennis BBC Radio 5 live commentator  "Andre Villas-Boas has been on the brink. He was summoned to meet Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy last night. But the question is where do Spurs turn to now? What is the alternative?
"In the radio interviews after the loss to Liverpool, Villas-Boas looked like a broken man. He looked like he had lost belief."  Former Chelsea boss Villas-Boas, 36, took over at Tottenham in July 2012.
"The club can announce that agreement has been reached with head coach Andre Villas-Boas for the termination of his services," said a Spurs statement.
"The decision was by mutual consent and in the interests of all parties."
Technical co-ordinator Tim Sherwood will take charge of the Capital One Cup tie against West Ham on Wednesday.
Villas-Boas was dismissed by Chelsea in March 2012 after just over eight months in charge at Stamford Bridge, and he was hoping to rebuild his reputation at Tottenham.
He won 53.7% of his league games in charge, which is the highest of any Spurs manager since the Premier League era began in 1992.
But Villas-Boas had come under increasing pressure in recent weeks as his side struggled to keep pace with the top four in the league.
Tottenham lost 6-0 to Manchester City on 24 November and, despite a draw against Manchester United and wins at Fulham and Sunderland, the defeat by Liverpool proved the final straw for the Spurs hierarchy.
   Villas-Boas fact file
  • 1977: Born in Porto on 17 October
  • 1993: Works as a trainee under Sir Bobby Robson at Porto
  • 1994: Achieves Uefa C coaching licence in Scotland
  • 2002: Becomes part of Jose Mourinho's staff at Porto
  • 2004: Follows Mourinho to Chelsea
  • 2008: Moves with Mourinho to Inter Milan
  • 2009: Appointed manager of Academica
  • 2010: Named Porto boss
  • 2011: Wins league, cup and Europa League in first season
  • 2011: Takes over at Chelsea, but is sacked in early 2012 after 40 games in charge
  • 2012: Replaces Harry Redknapp as manager of Tottenham Hotspur
  • 2013: Leads Spurs to a fifth place finish and to the last 16 of the Europa League in his first season in charge
  • Villas-Boas said he would not "resign" as he was not a "quitter" after the loss to the Reds but, after being summoned to a meeting with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, his future was taken out of his hands.
    "We wish Andre well for the future," added the Spurs statement. "We shall make a further announcement in due course."
    The early names being linked with replacing the Portuguese include current Russia boss and former England manager Fabio Capello, ex-Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo, Swansea boss Michael Laudrup and Tottenham's current technical director Franco Baldini.
    Former Tottenham playmaker and ex-England boss Glenn Hoddle has also been mentioned as a contender.
    Former Spurs striker and BBC presenter Gary Lineker tweeted:  "Would love to see Glenn Hoddle given another chance at this level. Has a brilliant football mind."
    Italian Baldini, 53, helped oversee the club's transfer dealings during last summer when the club had to contend with the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a world record £85.3m.
    Bale scored 21 goals last season as Spurs finished a point behind fourth-placed Arsenal to miss out on Champions League qualification.
    Tottenham recruited Paulinho, Roberto Soldado, Nacer Chadli, Etienne Capoue, Christian Eriksen, Vlad Chiriches and Erik Lamela with the money from the sale of the Wales international but the team has been unconvincing so far this season.
    Villas-Boas had only managed one win from his previous six home league games, with his side scoring just 15 goals in 16 top-flight matches.  Play media   Tottenham booed off after 5-0 defeat  However, in contrast, Spurs won their six Europa League group games to progress to the last 32 of the competition, where they will meet Ukrainian side Dnipro.
    Villas-Boas also guided Tottenham into the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup and they face West Ham at White Hart Lane on Wednesday, 18 December.
    His latest departure comes after his failure to have the same kind of impact he did in his early managerial days in Portugal.
    Villas-Boas helped secure Academica's top-flight safety having taken over the side when they were bottom of the league and without a win.
    He moved on to Porto where, in 2011, he won the Portuguese league by 21 points without losing a game, the Europa League with a 1-0 victory against compatriots Braga and the Portuguese Cup.
    All that's necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

    celeste

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    Re: Tottenham sack Villas-Boas
    « Reply #1 on: 17:48:49, 16/12/13 »
    I'd have sacked Daniel Levy instead for appointing Villas-Boas to replace Harry Redknapp who had built a very competitive team!
    All that's necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

    Cupcake

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    Re: Tottenham sack Villas-Boas
    « Reply #2 on: 22:59:33, 16/12/13 »
    Who decided to sell Bale?  That's a key question in the blame game.  Massive loss to the club and bound to leave the team floundering as they adjusted.   The response always seems to be to sack the manager - just on basic statistical probability, it really can't always be the manager at fault!   ??? 
    It's nice to be important, but it's also important to be nice.

    celeste

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    Re: Tottenham sack Villas-Boas
    « Reply #3 on: 08:49:55, 17/12/13 »
    Sir Alan Sugar said on the radio last night that the manager was given the choice of who to buy/sell but I think Bale was adamant he wanted to leave though
    All that's necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

    Cupcake

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    Re: Tottenham sack Villas-Boas
    « Reply #4 on: 12:22:35, 17/12/13 »
    In which case, the blame isn't VB's.  There's a point to be made that it's his job to rebuild and adjust, and agreed, there should be a time limit on that, but I don't see how you help recover from losing Bale by chucking out a manager who built a winning team last season.....  Wait and see, I suppose - either they've improved things or they've just really flushed the season away. 
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    Adsum

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    Re: Tottenham sack Villas-Boas
    « Reply #5 on: 18:59:52, 18/12/13 »
    If AVB picks up only half of his reported £4.5 million pound severance pay he won't be doing too badly. I seem to remember he walked away from Chelsea with a multi million pound pay off. they could sack me for that.  ::)


    It was reported that he left Chelsea with a £12 million pounds pay off, but lost £11 million of that when he signed for Spurs.
    « Last Edit: 19:03:18, 18/12/13 by Adsum »
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    celeste

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    Re: Tottenham sack Villas-Boas
    « Reply #6 on: 17:20:16, 19/12/13 »
    Seems it wasn't all AVB's fault, FrancoBaldini, the Director of Football at Tottenham was also to blame -
     
     Villas-Boas had declared himself ‘immune’ from criticism.
    Yet despite underachieving at two major English clubs, AVB has a remarkably high opinion of himself and a remarkably low tolerance for  anybody who questions him – as several Chelsea players could testify.
    Four years younger than Ryan Giggs, AVB bombed alarmingly at Stamford Bridge  and yet still walked into another plum job thanks to Daniel Levy’s keen eye for  the fashionable.
    Levy, former boss of the low-end tailors Mr Byrite, despatched the old school  Harry Redknapp despite two top-four finishes in three seasons.
    And he returned to his favoured ‘continental’ management model, employing Villas-Boas and then Franco Baldini – Mr Buywrong – as his  & technical director.
    Back in August, at the high tide of hysteria over his £110million trolley  dash for the north Londoners, the Italian silver fox was billed as an  arch boardroom schmoozer.
    Baldini had contacts. He had charisma.

    He’d make Tottenham truly cosmopolitan. Champions League regulars. Title  contenders.
    Baldini broke Tottenham’s transfer record three times in one summer on  Paulinho, Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela.
    Gareth Bale would not even be missed. In fact, Spurs would be even stronger  without him.
    Before the north London derby on September 1 – when Spurs had bought seven  players while Arsenal hadn’t spent a note – Arsene Wenger was accused of  sour grapes for casting doubt on his rivals’ spending spree.
    Yet in hindsight, the Frenchman’s words look strikingly wise.
    “There is a technical risk when you buy more than three players because you  unbalance the stability of your squad,” he said. “I know in England it’s seen as  a good thing to get new players, but it’s difficult when you bring in so many to  predict how well they will do.”
    Arsenal do not have a technical director and, days before the capture of  Mesut Ozil, Wenger seemed to be dithering in the transfer market.
    So when he was asked about Baldini, the ­Gunners boss invited further derision by casting doubt on ­Tottenham’s set-up.
    “If a director of football buys the players, when they don’t work you are  guilty for not using them well,” said Wenger.
    “When they work, he has bought well. I’m not against having people to  help me buy and sell but I think the final decision has to always be with the  manager.
    “He is the one who is responsible for the team’s style and results. It makes  sense that the manager chooses the players who come in.”
    As Baldini’s recruits struggle to settle into a team devoid of a goal threat,  Wenger’s words must haunt Villas-Boas.
    For it is the Portuguese coach, rather than Baldini, whose job is under  threat after the Etihad meltdown.
    Even though Baldini was AVB’s choice for the role, he will survive if the  manager is sacked – and with Spurs in mid-table before Manchester United’s visit  on Sunday, Villas-Boas is on borrowed time.
    Yet was Baldini really such a shrewd appointment?
    And why were his former club Roma so relaxed about his exit?
    Perhaps because the ambitious Italian club failed to qualify for Europe  last term.
    More than any other signing, ­£30m Lamela was Baldini’s project.
    Even though Spurs had England’s Andros Townsend and Aaron Lennon in the  Argentinian’s favoured right-wing position (not that Baldini, after four years  as England’s assistant &manager, had any time for English footballers).
    Even though Lamela was said to be less than keen to come to England before  Roma’s eyes lit up at the colour of Tottenham’s money.
    The Bale cash was burning a hole in Levy’s pocket, belying his reputation for  parsimony and ball-busting deal-making.
    While Liverpool clung on to Luis Suarez and United kept Wayne Rooney, Spurs  flogged Bale – and Levy had the glory of extracting a world-record & transfer  fee from Real Madrid.
    Summer tantrums can quickly fade once transfer windows shut.
    Rooney and Suarez, more troublesome characters than Bale, have both knuckled down.
    Yet Spurs took the money and early indications suggest Baldini has blown  it.
    Villas-Boas isn’t blameless, of course.
    He committed the cardinal sin of criticising his own supporters, while  boring the pants off people who live with a sense of fatalistic romanticism but  at least demand entertainment in exchange for their inevitable heartbreak.
     
     
    « Last Edit: 17:26:46, 19/12/13 by celeste »
    All that's necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

    Cupcake

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    Re: Tottenham sack Villas-Boas
    « Reply #7 on: 21:52:58, 19/12/13 »
    Who wrote that - knives out all round or what?!  :o
    It's nice to be important, but it's also important to be nice.

    celeste

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    All that's necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing