Villas-Boas Appointed as Tottenham Hotspur Head Coach

Tottenham Hotspur have announced that Andre Villas-Boas has been appointed as their new Head Coach on a three year contract. It has taken Tottenham Chairman, Daniel Levy,almost three weeks to find a successor to Harry Redknapp who left the club in mid-June. The contractual arrangements which were put in place when Villas-Boas left Chelsea prevented an announcement until the beginning of July. The appointment of the former Chelsea manager is a major risk by Daniel Levy taking into account the difficulties that Villas-Boas encountered in his short time at Stamford Bridge.

Villas-Boas had moved to Chelsea last summer after a very successful season with Porto when they finished Champions, undefeated in the Primeira Liga. They completed the ‘treble’ by also winning the Portuguese Cup and the Europa League. It cost Chelsea a fee of almost £14 million to activate the release clause in his contract with the Portuguese side but within ten months he was on his way out of Stamford Bridge. In that period, Villas-Boas failed to establish the rapport with his players that is needed to put across new ideas. He also found it difficult to develop a working relationship with the media and with Chelsea’s season about to implode he was removed from his post.

Villas-Boas knew from an early age that he wanted to be a coach and with the support of Sir Bobby Robson, he started on the road to gaining his coaching qualifications. He worked as Assistant coach to Jose Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan. In the summer of 2009 he left Mourinho’s team and the following October he was appointed manager of Academica, the team at the foot of the Portuguese Primeira Liga and without a win. He introduced a new style of play and results improved with the team finishing in mid-table. This led to his appointment at Porto.

Tottenham’s new manager is thirty four years of age and will work at White Hart Lane with two of his previous coaching staff, First Team fitness coach Jose Mario Rocha and Daniel Sousa, head of opposition scouting. One of the new coach’s first tasks will be to sort out the future of Luka Modric who is being linked with a transfer to Real Madrid. Villas-Boas has, however, been given a boost by this week’s news that Gareth Bale has signed a new contract which will keep him at the club until 2116. With other new signings imminent, Villas-Boas will have an opportunity to implement his training methods and put across his tactical views through the pre-season preparations which commence on 14th July.

Andre Villas-Boas will know that it is imperative that Spurs make an impressive start to the season as failure to do so will bring instant comparisons with his predecessor who took Tottenham to two top four finishes in his three full seasons at the club.

Spurs’ record with foreign managers has not been good, only Martin Jol making an impression before being unceremoniously replaced by Juande Ramos.

The appointment of Villas-Boas is a brave move by Tottenham who are looking to bring in younger players as they know that they are unable to compete for the highest quality players. They are looking to an exciting young coach to work and develop these players in order to bring success to the club. Villas-Boas is looking for a second chance in the demanding world of the English Premier League and Tottenham could prove to be the ideal place for his recuperation. Patience will be the order of the day at Spurs in the coming season – the supporters, the media and the Chairmen will have to give the new manager time to put across his ideas in order to develop the style of team that he wants and the players will have to show an acceptance of this new approach.

Will Andre Villas-Boas be given the time to impose his style on Tottenham Hotspur?

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