Andre Villas-Boas Gives His First Interviews as Tottenham Hotspur Coach

Andre Villas-Boas made his first appearance as Tottenham Head Coach before the assembled media at the club’s new training facilities at Hotspur Way, Enfield. He looked relaxed and immaculately dressed as usual, as he answered their questions, referring to the club as ‘we’ which will greatly impress Spurs supporters.

Ben Pearce, a journalist for the Tottenham Journal on Twitter:

"“The hype about the new training facility is certainly justified. It’s very impressive – as was the new head coach. A new era indeed!”"

Speaking to the club’s Spurs TV On-line, Villas-Boas said,

"“Tottenham is a team of great tradition and one of teams that, at this moment, is aiming towards even more success. The distance we have to take to reach success is very short, thankfully because of the work that has been done in the past, which is quality work not only from the previous management, but also the chairman and his vision for the future. That is important as we build up solidly. We want to mix titles, winning ambitions and winning habits into Tottenham and make sure we bridge that difference and finally get it on the next years coming.”"

Andre Villas-Boas on his appointment at Tottenham:

"“It is a massive opportunity to come to Spurs and the trust that the Chairman has put in me and that I can repay that trust.”"

When asked about other offers since leaving Chelsea, Villas-Boas responded that a couple of clubs had come in but but he chose somewhere with people with the right commitment and I have found this here.

"“I want to put Tottenham back on track with ‘titles’ and to take the club forward with ‘titles’ and success”"

When asked if he had learned from mistakes made at Chelsea, he said,

"“I’ve learned from a few things I’ve done wrong and I need to listen and trust the right people at the right time.”"

Speaking on Spurs TV about the ‘new direction’ for the club he said,

"“It’s all very well put together for the last five years and looking into the future  – there is going to be a new training ground that we will move  in to soon and it will be a massive step for this football club, as you can imagine. We get to a top level in terms of facilities and in the end, it’s the right step towards putting everything available for our players and our Academy, so we can nurture and make their potential to flourish even more. This is one of the major steps for the season. Of course, putting the team together is of massive importance and also providing them with everything that we have available. It’s important they feel at home and feel the excitement that’s around.”"

Villas-Boas indicated that he was focused on winning trophies or ‘titles’ as he referred to, at Tottenham, that they had not won anything since 2008 and that he wanted to win in the Spurs ‘way’.

"“Looking also into the future, we have the new stadium project and we have this feeling, mainly from last season, where we know we are very near in terms of winning trophies. We go into four competitions next season and we go into them with the maximum ambition of trying to win them. I think taking this step is something very decisive, shows straight away our commitment towards winning titles and creates the right winning mentality towards the future to take the club forward.”"

Media Impressed by Villas-Boas

Villas-Boas made a positive impression in his first contact with the media who had given him a difficult time when with Chelsea. He spoke with confidence and gave the feeling that he was genuinely pleased to be with Spurs and looking forward to working with the players who had responded well to the opening days’ training. He admitted that Luka Modric could be sold if the right offer was received by the club but that he was working to complete the signing of Emmanuel Adebayor. He was also very interested in signing Joao Moutinho from Porto.

Matt Law, Sunday Mirror journalist on Twitter was impressed with the new training facilities, as good as any in the Premier League but also with Villas-Boas:

"“And AVB was good today too. Far more relaxed than I saw him at Chelsea. Hope he stays that way. “"

Assistant Head Coach

The club announced that Villas-Boas had completed his backroom staff with the appointment of former Tottenham player, Steffen Freund as Assistant Head Coach.