Source: Daily_Mail
Andre Villas-Boas: Chelsea's 24-carat winner
ShareAge has not weathered Andre Villas-Boas. It hasn't had the time. At 33 he is five months older than Didier Drogba and 10 months older than Frank Lampard, two cornerstones of Chelsea's rise in the Roman Abramovich era and two figures he will have to address confidently in the dressing room on day one. [LNB]Should he desire to, Villas-Boas could point out at that moment that, when Ruud Gullit became manager of Chelsea, he too was 33, and that the man who succeeded Gullit, Gianluca Vialli, was also 33. Even Sir Bobby Robson, the door-opener for Villas-Boas, was 34 when he took over at Fulham, and he had already been player-manager in Vancouver. [LNB]It is not age that makes Villas-Boas really different, it is the route he has taken to get to west London, its beginning and calling points along the way. [LNB] Making his point: Andre Villas-Boas will need to show who is boss at Chelsea early on[LNB]Drogba, Lampard, Gullit, Vialli and Robson were steeped in football and its professional side from their early years. When Villas-Boas was a teenager in Oporto in the early 1990s he was said to be a typical adolescent fanatic with a sticker collection. He may even have had Gullit and Vialli stickers.[LNB]Villas-Boas was on the outside. He may have known and felt everything about FC Porto, but it was as a supporter. He was associate member No 11,428 - a Portista - aged 2?. When he became Porto manager last June, he said he was sitting in his 'dream chair'. [LNB]Villas-Boas had become an insider in an industry quick to sneer at anyone perceived to be different. But he was an insider in Portuguese football. [LNB]Nowhe is an insider at Chelsea where a World Cup-winning manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, lasted seven months; where a man of proven European status, Carlo Ancelotti, was dismissed in a corridor at Goodison Park despite being a Double-winner.[LNB] Jumping for joy: Villas-Boas reacts after leading Porto to UEFA Europa League glory last season[LNB]There will be 360 degree scrutiny at Chelsea. Villas-Boas is the seventh manager in the eight-year Abramovich era and time is unlikely to be on the Portuguese's side - he has a three-year contract for what it's worth.[LNB] But other things are. One is Villas-Boas's unfamiliarity - he will be the novelty in English football next season. A second is familiarity - he has been at Chelsea before with Jose Mourinho and is known by the players, staff and Abramovich. [LNB]And a third, small matter could actually be his age. At 33, Abramovich may just consider Villas-Boas to be plenty old enough. At 33 after all, Abramovich had helped dismantle the Soviet Union, privatise its economy, move into the Kremlin and get on the way to Chelsea, which he bought aged 36. [LNB]They recall giving Andre Villas-Boas the nickname Cenourinha back in Oporto's Rosario College. It was because of his small stature and ginger tinge. Cenourinha: Little Carrot. [LNB]If it was said antagonistically then Villas-Boas has quite a retort. He is now 24 carat, at ?13.3million the most costly managerial signing in football history, as well as the youngest to win a European title; and if he wants to, at Chelsea the Little Carrot can wield a big stick. [LNB]That does not seem the Villas- Boas way, even if he almost came to blows with Frank Rijkaard during one of those explosive Chelsea- Barcelona encounters. But at Stamford Bridge Villas-Boas has quietly been given a mandate for change. Perestroika translates as 'restructuring'. [LNB]For someone who was anonymous in the broad world of football 20 months ago, who has come from nothing in terms of playing pedigree, who gave his first team-talk as a manager - of Academica de Coimbra - in October 2009, that is more of a sensation than perhaps has been recognised. [LNB]Chelsea fans have not greeted the news of Villas-Boas's appointment in the manner Aston Villa did Alex McLeish's. They have met it with curiosity.[LNB] Part of that stems from a striking first full season as a manager. Some think managing Porto is not a major task given that, along with Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, Porto are part of the big three in Portugal. But Villas-Boas arrived because Porto had just finished third in the league eight points behind Benfica. When he left Porto had just finished first, 21 points ahead of Benfica. Porto didn't lose a league game all season. They also won the Portuguese Cup. [LNB] Man and boy: Villas-Boas as a youngster at Ramaldense (back row, centre)[LNB]Those achievements can go unregarded in the bigger football nations. But Villas-Boas ensured Porto's profile was prominent by winning the Europa League, too. In the quarter-final they scored five home and away against Spartak Moscow. In the semi-final first leg they thumped Villarreal 5-1. In the final in Dublin against another Portuguese side, Braga, who had knocked out Liverpool, Porto won 1-0 to complete a treble for club and manager. [LNB]Yet, almost as intriguing was the fact that Braga were managed by Domingos Paciencia. That was neat because it took Villas-Boas full circle. It was Paciencia - known as Domingos as a player - who had fired the indignation of Villas-Boas in Oporto when Robson was manager at the Estadio das Antas. [LNB] Close: Mourinho and Andre Villas Boas at Cheslea[LNB]It was Robson's use of Domingos - misuse in Villas-Boas's eyes - that prompted a letter to the Englishman abroad from the 15-year-old, who just happened to share the same apartment block and whose English grandmother Margaret knew Robson. [LNB]That Robson replied is less surprising than a precocious youngster having the audacity to send it. [LNB]At Euro 2004 Robson was delighted to show reporters where he had lived in Oporto. That Villas-Boas inhabited such an area demonstrated his background was not Robson's Durham mining stock. [LNB]His full name is: Luis Andre de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas. It is in part derived from agreat grandfather who was a viscount. In Portugal eyebrows are raised by having 'de' and 'e' in one name. It is viewed as showy, old-money nobility. [LNB]A cousin, Beatrice, has expressed surprise at Villas-Boas' career: 'He is unique in the family in that he is not a doctor or a lawyer.' [LNB]The background may explain some young confidence, but there was clearly a family interest in football judging by that early Porto membership. One of Villas-Boas' teachers at Rosario has recalled 'a small, quiet student who did not invest a lot in his studies. What really fascinated him was soccer. On Mondays he would discuss FC Porto with his friends. He took to school exhaustive reports with data on the players, any substitutions and the tactics.' [LNB]Villas-Boas did not know then that the detail would make him. It was the detail that engaged Robson and, later, Mourinho. [LNB]At Porto last season Villas-Boas saidof Robson: 'He gave me the chance to start a career. I asked him some questions and only somebody with as open a mind as him would tolerate the arrogance of a kid. He gave me the chance to witness FC Porto training sessions. I was a mere teenager. That was fantastic.' [LNB]AugustoInacio, Robson's assistant at Porto, remembered that 'Andre was never part of the technical team. He made statistics for Robson. It was a verypersonal thing between them.'[LNB] Familiar sight: A Mourinho-style celebration during his successful season in charge at Porto[LNB]Via Robson, the 16-year-old got to Lilleshall and the Scottish FA's courses at Largs (a non-professional could not get on the equivalent courses in Portugal). Villas-Boas passed his 'C' coaching badges - former players start on 'B' - and kept going. [LNB]SFA director of football development Jim Fleeting said: 'He started at the bottom of the ladder and completed every one of our courses. He was only 16 or 17 at the time, just a boy. I think he was over about 12 or 15 times.' [LNB]Bolton manager Owen Coyle was there. 'We did our pro-licence course together,' Coyle said. 'He was a great lad who got on well with everyone.' [LNB]From there came a first job. At 21, Villas-Boas managed the British Virgin Islands. Then it was back to Porto with the Under 19s. [LNB] Blue day: Preparing for the biggest challenge of his fledgling managerial career[LNB]Mourinho, who had left Porto for Barcelona with Robson, returned. He had known Villas-Boas through Robson and now the two clicked. Mourinho described Villas-Boas as 'my eyes and ears'.[LNB]When Chelsea were knocked out of the 2004 Champions League by Monaco in the semi-final, the opponents waiting in the final were Porto. Mourinho travelled to Stamford Bridge to see who Porto would face. The man beside him was Villas-Boas. That is trust. [LNB]Soon they would be at Chelsea together, then at Inter Milan. But then a rupture, allegedly over Villas-Boas's desire for more power. He was outgrowing his scouting role and the distance he puts between himself and Mourinho means something. [LNB]Yet Academica de Coimbra gave Villas-Boas his chance because 'his observation and analysis of teams has been acknowledged on numerous occasions by Mourinho himself'. [LNB]And Villas-Boas has now been at Porto followed by Chelsea, just like Mourinho, who, along with Arsene Wenger, has established a template that managers do not have to have been big-time players. [LNB]Villas-Boas has benefited. It is understandable that he has said he is not the next Special One, merely the Next One. But he will hope Robson is smiling down because, regardless of age, next is a word they use at Chelsea.[LNB] Chelsea close in on ?26.5m Falcao: Porto striker accepts ?5m-a-year deal in principleStoke defender Huth out to spoil Villas-Boas debut as Chelsea bossSpecial One? New Chelsea boss Villas-Boas warns fans: Don't expect something from one manMourinho MK II ready to show he is Special as Villas-Boas is unveiled at Chelsea All the latest Chelsea news, features and opinion[LNB] [LNB] Explore more:People: Frank Rijkaard, Frank Lampard, Jose Mourinho, Didier Drogba, Bobby Robson, Alex McLeish, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Owen Coyle, Carlo Ancelotti Places: Barcelona, Liverpool, Vancouver, London, Lisbon, Monaco, Dublin, Monaco, Portugal
