its his stubbornness that is his main downfall, he could be a very successful manager if he wasnt.
too stubborn to accept there is a need for a plan b
too stubborn to move away from his tactics when they clearly arent working
too stubborn to play the players he didnt choose
cuts of his own nose to spite his face, and that has been his undoing
There was no common ground between André Villas-Boas and Daniel Levy as they met briefly after Tottenham Hotspur's 5-0 humiliation at home against Liverpool. And there had to be if they were to continue. Both men were hurt and as Levy sought answers, Villas-Boas bristled.
The conversation turned to whether Spurs could employ two strikers, for example, and Villas-Boas interpreted this as a suggestion that he should play Emmanuel Adebayor who he wanted out of the club, who had been a source of friction and who has been a crushing disappointment, despite being the highest earner. The conversation was not constructive.
Quickly the decision was taken to reconvene yesterday morning and, shortly after 10am, Villas-Boas and Levy decided that the time was right for the head coach to go. Technically he was not sacked and, in truth, the sense around Villas-Boas was that he wanted to go and was relieved it was over. He and Levy have never been, according to a source close to the Portuguese, a “dynamic duo”. By the end the relationship between the pair was ever more remote; it was not a meeting of minds.
That relationship had started awkwardly with the sale of Luka Modric in the summer of 2012 and the failure to sign Joao Moutinho at the 11th hour as his replacement – after apparently haggling over €500,000 on a €31 million (£26 million) bid – and it rarely improved after that.
Villas-Boas lost Modric one summer, Gareth Bale the next – even if £107 million was spent following the latter’s departure. He had called for evolution; he got revolution.
Villas-Boas was devastated not to acquire Moutinho and believed that he struggled to get any of the players he wanted signed by Spurs. It is a long and perhaps, at times, unrealistic list but included Oscar, Fernandinho, Willian, Leandro Damiao, Henrik Mkhitaryan, Fabio Coentrao, Hulk and David Villa. The latter was even taken on a tour of Spurs’ impressive new training ground but decided to join Atletico Madrid.
Levy did not interfere. Far from it. He does allow his staff to get on with their jobs but there is, on occasions, frustration that he appears to be a ‘numbers man’.
Not that Villas-Boas, a bright, likeable coach, was blameless. He is far warmer than his public image presents, with innovative ideas, but at times he is unrelenting, The 36-year-old had his fingers burnt at Chelsea and after an initial feeling that he would not return to English football he landed the Spurs job.
He had learnt important lessons. Villas-Boas needed to improve his man-management skills and become more flexible – and did so – and of all the criticism he has faced the claim that he had blamed the players or lost the dressing room is the one he refutes most vehemently.
However, the biggest irony is that here is a young coach who is firmly committed to attacking, exciting football – and wants to entertain – but was struggling to translate that on to the pitch. Again, though, it may well have just been a case of giving him time.
There was also a fractious relationship with Tim Sherwood, Spurs’ technical co-ordinator, and highly regarded by Levy, while it always remained unclear as to how effective an assistant manager Steffen Freund was, and who pushed for him to be hired.
The tension increased over the summer when Paris St-Germain asked for, and were granted, permission to speak to Villas-Boas to become their new head coach. Villas-Boas decided to stay but felt that Levy would have happily pocketed the £10 million it would have taken PSG to release him from his Spurs contract.
That contract, too, quickly became a bone of contention. Villas-Boas thought that Spurs might have improved his deal – which had one more year left to run after this season – after he showed loyalty and rejected PSG, but instead there was silence. He did not ask for a better deal but also, having lobbied for the appointment of director of football Franco Baldini, he thought, perhaps wrongly, perhaps naively, that it would be a sign that Spurs believed in him.
That is often the way with Villas-Boas. He rejects the comparisons with his former mentor Jose Mourinho but there are undoubted similarities. One of Mourinho’s mantras is that if everyone wears the same shirt then they should “show the same face” and all pull in the same direction. Villas-Boas believed that also. He also accepts that he is ‘Porto school’ – a product of the club he grew up supporting and went on to coach and may now return to as coach. At Porto there is a strong support system and a very clear way of operating. Villas-Boas did not believe he had that at Spurs.
A pinch point arrived last May on Spurs’ post-season tour to the Bahamas which was also used as an opportunity for Villas-Boas, Levy and the club’s owner Joe Lewis, who lives on the islands, to meet. Top of the agenda was Bale’s future, with Villas-Boas urging the club to keep him for one more year – and add Hulk and Villa to create a new forward line. Villas-Boas wanted that evolution – not a revolution – at Spurs in the playing staff but was also pushing for off-the-pitch changes, including the hiring of Baldini and the overhaul of the medical department. The signings were rejected and, of course, Bale was sold to Real Madrid for £85 million but only, in fairness, after he had pushed for the move. Spurs held talks with Manchester United, who were willing to pay £100 million and might also have taken Adebayor, but Bale was adamant that he only wanted to go to Madrid.
Baldini got to work in the transfer market with Villas-Boas happy with the pursuit of Paulinho, Roberto Soldado and Etienne Capoue but unsure that he wanted a radical overhaul. But Spurs reasoned they could act quickly and decisively to reinvest the Bale money and use the opportunity to create a new squad.
It was a gamble. And it also needed the pieces to fall together but, more importantly, a collective belief that this was not only the right thing to do but that Villas-Boas would be given the time to make it work – and he was the right man to make it work.
By now his relationship with Adebayor had deteriorated to such an extent that the striker was not to train with the first-team squad. Benoît Assou-Ekotto also had to be moved on and went to Queens Park Rangers on loan after a deal to sell him to Fenerbahce collapsed, to Villas-Boas’s frustration. Within minutes of the 5-0 defeat to Liverpool, Assou-Ekotto posted a picture on a social-network site of him and Adebayor holding up five fingers.
Rightly or wrongly, Villas-Boas felt the club had not backed him on Adebayor while Baldini continued to negotiate with Real president Fiorentino Pérez.
A deal was in place and Spurs decided to spend rather than bank the Bale cash – and with their seven signings, plus other departures, they ended the transfer window approximately £10 million up when fees and savings on wages were taken into account.
There was clear method in this – with the exception of Soldado, who is 28, and Paulinho, who has just turned 25, all the signings are young and should retain a resale value. The exception might be Erik Lamela who, although 21, cost around £30 million and was wanted by both Baldini and Villas-Boas. Baldini, having worked with the Argentinian at Roma, has faith that he will come good.
Spurs’ results at the start of the season were better than expected even if some performances were patchy. Their defensive solidity, racking up clean sheets, was unexpected given the number of changes and there was a growing sense of excitement at the club that they might be title contenders.
Not that Villas-Boas, or Baldini, thought that. They still reasoned that this was a season of transition and a top-four finish was the goal. However, there was a growing, disappointing gap developing between the pair, which was all the more unfortunate given Villas-Boas had previously urged Chelsea to hire Baldini; the Italian had wanted to take the coach to Roma, and then wanted to work with him at Spurs.
But matters were becoming increasingly strained and there were disagreements over the handling of Hugo Lloris’s head injury, with Villas-Boas determined that the goalkeeper was fit to play.
The 6-0 defeat by Manchester City began to expose the tension further, with Villas-Boas believing that if he had then lost to Manchester United, Levy might want to pull the trigger.
By now, he wanted to go. Villas-Boas did not appear a happy figure on the touchline and his goal celebrations did not possess the usual exuberance.
Could he turn things around and see through December? The games were coming thick and fast and that helped, but there was an increasing sense from those close to Villas-Boas that, come what may, this would be his last season at Spurs. In the end he did not make it to the midway point of the campaign.
article by avbs boy, jason burt
Richard Keys @richardajkeys29 Sep 12
Tim Sherwood told us today Spurs were tired - over trained -and unhappy with AVB. Doesn't look like that to me.
that was day of the utd match... sherwood has been gunning for him
When Andre Villas-Boas was called into a meeting at White Hart Lane with chairman Daniel Levy and director of football Franco Baldini on Sunday evening, he still had a chance to save his job.
Humiliation does not sit well with Levy but after an embarrassing 5-0 defeat against Liverpool at White Hart Lane, it was becoming an all too familiar emotion.
Tottenham’s directors, squirming in their seats high up in the West Stand, spotted Brendan Rodgers hold up five fingers to his coaching staff when Jon Flanagan scored Liverpool’s third.
End of the road: Andre Villas-Boas has been sacked by Tottenham after the embarrassing 5-0 defeat to Liverpool
Livid: Daniel Levy watching Liverpool's destruction of his Tottenham side on Sunday - AVB was fired the next day
Premonition: Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers held up the number five after the Reds' third goal
They were stunned by the audacity, but Rodgers had called it right. Levy was livid. He wanted Villas-Boas to change his ways but the Tottenham coach was in a militant mood during that super-charged meeting inside the stadium.
It had been a scandalous surrender by Tottenham’s players and emotions were still running high. Nevertheless, Villas-Boas was not prepared to change — even if it cost him his job.
Although all three resolved to sleep on it, Levy was not about to let the matter rest.
Only three weeks had passed since he had been forced to make small talk with Manchester City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain and chief executive Ferran Soriano over a cup of tea in the chairman’s suite after City had thrashed Spurs 6-0. Levy vowed never to be put through that again.
On Sunday, Liverpool’s visiting officials were still grabbing their coats from the cloakroom in the boardroom at White Hart Lane when Levy and Baldini made their way down to see Villas-Boas.
Beginning the rot: Levy vowed he didn't want a repeat of Manchester City's 6-0 drubbing of Spurs last month, with Jesus Navas netting the first over Hugo Lloris after just 13 seconds of the match (above)
Getting no better: Luis Suarez races through the Spurs defence to net Liverpool's fourth goal on Sunday
During some tense discussions, Levy demanded the re-integration of Emmanuel Adebayor into the Tottenham team and for Villas-Boas to set aside his personal issues with the striker.
Up at Tottenham’s magnificent new training complex in Enfield, north London, it is common knowledge that Villas-Boas and Adebayor cannot stand the sight of each other.
The striker has played once this season, a half-hearted effort after coming on as a half-time substitute during the 6-0 mauling at the Etihad Stadium.
The deterioration of their relationship is the reason Adebayor was instructed to train with the youths at the start of the season. As a senior professional, Adebayor has never forgiven his manager.
Villas-Boas’ response to the problem up front was, apparently, to remind the Tottenham chairman that he wanted to sign Hulk from Zenit St Petersburg. Yet this had never been discussed in the summer.
On Sunday evening, when Sportsmail asked: ‘Is this your team? Are these the players you want to work with and are these the players you would choose to work with?’ Villas-Boas offered an interesting reply.
He said: ‘I’m not sure I can make it public. We have worked hard to build a strong team and we have a strong team and we are happy with the signings.’
That night, Match of the Day 2 highlighted the exchange during their analysis of Villas-Boas’ diminishing influence at White Hart Lane.
Next on the agenda was Steffen Freund’s role in the coaching set-up after a spectacular fall-out between the pair when Tottenham were beaten 1-0 by Arsenal on September 1.
Freund, a former Tottenham player who returned to the club as a coach at Levy’s insistence, had always taken a seat next to Villas-Boas on the bench.
Former star: But Spurs coach Steffen Freund (right) was marginalised by Villas-Boas after the pair fell out
But after the derby, when they had a huge disagreement over the team’s approach and the substitutions, Villas-Boas promoted Luis Martins and relegated Freund in the seating positions.
Martins, who arrived at Tottenham with Villas-Boas when he was appointed in 2012, became the manager’s primary confidant. Inevitably it created tensions at the training ground and Freund felt alienated as his role vanished.
Levy was also concerned with the team’s identity and he reminded Villas-Boas that playing football with style and some swagger is a prerequisite for any Tottenham side.
Preparation was everything to Villas-Boas, something that factored heavily in his favour when he was chosen to replace Harry Redknapp as manager.
Despite this reputation, Gary Neville’s remarkable analysis on Sky’s Monday Night Football on November 25, the day after the 6-0 defeat at City, suggested Spurs’ players were no longer responding to his methods.
Down and out: Tottenham's players, with Michael Dawson (right) and Lewis Holtby, have lost all confidence
The shame: Kyle Walker hides his face after Suarez nets Liverpool's fourth goal in the rout
At the moment City kicked off, Neville had spotted two Tottenham players tying up their boots, one looking in another direction and a fourth having a conversation on the touchline.
Thirteen seconds later Jesus Navas put the ball in the back of Hugo Lloris’ net. On high, Neville’s observations resonated.
Despite the escalating internal problems, reserve goalkeeper Brad Friedel — who had a massive row with Villas-Boas over his handling of the goalkeeping situation last season — claimed team spirit was ‘good’. Others would disagree.
The issue of the team’s style had been overlooked when Tottenham won their first four games of the season — two in the league, two in the Europa League — and did not concede once.
It was a decent start, yet defeat by Arsenal, along with their failure to turn the screw on Chelsea after Gylfi Sigurdsson had put Tottenham ahead during an exhilarating first half, caused some concern. The Chelsea game ended 1-1.
Although the 3-0 loss to West Ham at White Hart Lane was written off as an aberration, Villas-Boas then criticised the supporters for failing to get behind the team in a dreadful 1-0 win over Hull.
This was not what Joe Lewis had envisaged when he authorised a massive spending spree from his super yacht moored off New Providence Island in the Bahamas during the summer.
With three of the top four teams in the Barclays Premier League changing managers, Lewis was convinced the league’s big clubs were vulnerable and shared a growing belief that it could be Tottenham’s turn to win the title.
Arsenal have not won the Premier League since 2004, while Chelsea (under Jose Mourinho), Manchester United (David Moyes) and Manchester City (Manuel Pellegrini) were starting again.
Out in the cold: Roberto Soldado has been criticised for his lack of goals since his £26million arrival
In meetings with Levy, Lewis agreed to plough all the money from the world-record £86million sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid back into the team.
Inadvertently, it placed Villas-Boas under almost intolerable pressure.
He could not handle it.
Last season Spurs finished a point behind Arsenal and missed out on the Champions League. This season’s target was far more ambitious — the title.
To do it, director of football Franco Baldini criss-crossed Europe and beyond to complete the signings of Paulinho, Nacer Chadli, Roberto Soldado, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches, Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela.
Many of them arrived after the start of the season but it only added to the wave of optimism enveloping White Hart Lane.
Welsh wizard: Spurs pumped the money from the world record sale of Gareth Bale back into the team
Roll call: Spurs signings Paulinho, Christian Eriksen, Roberto Soldado, Nacer Chadli, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches and Erik Lamela (left-right) have not lived up to expectations since their arrivals
Instead, it has all unravelled so quickly and by the time Spurs drew 2-2 with Manchester United on December 1, Baldini was the only influential figure left at the club showing any support for Villas-Boas. The rest were ready to sack him.
That game was followed by an exchange with the Daily Mail when Villas-Boas claimed he was being attacked ‘from the side’ and that the criticism was personal. He could not have been more wrong.
It was a shame it came to that, but it was another illustration of his deepening paranoia. All that ever mattered was whether Villas-Boas was up to the job of managing a club the size of Tottenham and securing Champions League football.
Monday morning, after a good night’s sleep, Levy decided he was not.
Richard Keys @richardajkeys29 Sep 12
Tim Sherwood told us today Spurs were tired - over trained -and unhappy with AVB. Doesn't look like that to me.
that was day of the utd match... sherwood has been gunning for him
Hated this c*nt as a player. Gonna hate him even more when I see him in the dugout now. Proper huge c*nt of a man.
Lmao
You gotta love Arsenal Tim.
Spurs fans keep coming with "£30 million pound player on the bench"
Because he cost £30 mil doesn't necessarily mean he was ready to play start away
He has got the most assists in our team along with holtby this season.
both warm the bench more time. avb hates creative players
look at the confidence shown in townsend and chadli ffs, lamela has been more productive than both combined and he hasnt even got out of first gear yet, the management of him has been poor tbh. Guy was just getting confidence up putting in decent performances and avb completely drops him from the squad?
If spurs get an actual manager in, shit could get peak. Hopefully sherwood and them get the job.
-
2
-
1
Dead flags, banners, and banter...
-
1
Look at this fucking c*nt. Can barely hide his smirk the prick. Im at the lowest ive almost ever been with this joke of a club.
Arry said he thinks Tim should get it perm
Gotta give it to ol Timmy.
Apart from 1 season at Blackburn ain't really done fuck all in his career and finds himself in a position of power like that.
Epitome of a face you want to cave in
-
1
The guy they said was better than Zizou
lmfao
-
Recently Browsing 0 members
- No registered users viewing this page.
-
Latest Activity
-
- 2 replies
- 20567 views
-
- 7 replies
- 20880 views
-
- 59 replies
- 121207 views
-
New single & video - Tru Trilla "End the Day" ft Ruste Juxx & Julius Luciano of Shoe Gang
By urbanelite, in Music
- tru trilla
- ruste juxx
- (and 18 more)
- 0 replies
- 11095 views
-
- 0 replies
- 3203 views
-
Recommended Posts
A man said townsend center midfield
The pain
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Flojo
He definitely made some mistakes and i aren't absolving him of all responsibility but at the end of the day you can't claim the credit and shift the blame for the same decision which is what seems to be the case with the transfer policy.
Playing Dawson wasn't his preference was it? I thought you'd had a lot of injuries to CB's and he was the last resort.
The BAE situation is obviously something personal and I don't know the particulars but I do know that as a manager you've got to get rid of anyone you consider not to be of the right mindset.
Your turnover of players this preseason was massive so it was always going to take a while to integrate them all and find the best team, he's doing this whilst being in the Europa which can be more of a hinderance than anything.
I think the nature of the bad results has played a big part in this decision because looking at the table you're by no means out of the race for the CL.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bruno Di Gradi
fam trust me... i know its just gonna be somehting ridiculous
From when Capoue was playing RCB ..anything is possible with spurs
Link to comment
Share on other sites
O Fenomeno
BT are mocking him
Had to switch off
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Posted