Andre Villas-Boas has been sacked by Chelsea Football Club after less than a year in charge at Stamford Bridge.
The 34-year-old Portuguese took over as manager in June 2011.
The statement posted on the club’s website states that “unfortunately the results and performances of the team have not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season.”
“The club is still competing in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup, as well as challenging for a top-four spot in the Premier League, and we aim to remain as competitive as possible on all fronts. With that in mind, we felt our only option was to make a change at this time” the statement explained.
Former Chelsea midfielder Roberto di Matteo has been put in charge as first-team coach on an interim basis until the end of the season.
The club’s decision comes on the heel of Saturday’s defeat to West Bromwich Albion by 1 goal.
The club has had just three Premier League wins in their last 12 games and faces two tough games in the FA Cup and Champions League in the next 10 days.
The club will be visiting Birmingham FC for an FA Cup fifth-round replay on Tuesday and the following week they will host Italian side Napoli, at Stamford Bridge, where they must overturn a 3-1 deficit to avoid exiting the Champions League at the last 16 stage.
Villas-Boas first came to Chelsea as a scout from 2004-2007 during Jose Mourinho’s tenure, and five major domestic trophies were won in that period.
He also assisted Mourinho at Porto and Inter Milan, and worked in a similar role under Sir Bobby Robson during the former England manager’s spell in charge of Porto.
His first club managerial role was with Portuguese side Academica in October 2009, but after moving to Porto the following summer he won the Portuguese League and Cup double plus the Europa League.
After being recruited by Chelsea boss Roman Abramovich in what was thought to be an attempt to implement a more attractive style of play, Villas-Boas suffered early defeats against Manchester United and Arsenal and questions were raised about his tactical strategies.
Villas-Boas also appeared to have a difficult working relationship with senior players at Chelsea, several of whom were only slightly younger than him.
After Saturday’s defeat at West brom, the embattled coach said, “it’s not been good enough for some time. We’re fifth and if that is the case, something’s wrong. Every defeat piles more pressure on any Chelsea manager. We don’t win enough and that does not make us proud.”
1. Claudio Ranieri: Sep 2000 to May 2004
No comments:
Post a Comment
Post your Comments here