Source: Team_Talk
Coyle: Villas-Boas is a winner
olton manager Owen Coyle recognised Andre Villas-Boas was destined for greatness when he first met the Chelsea boss four years ago.[LNB] Coyle and Villas-Boas took part in the same pro-licence course in Scotland in 2007, with the Portuguese a stand-out figure even then at the age of 29.[LNB]At the time Villas-Boas was serving his apprenticeship under Jose Mourinho as an assistant coach at Chelsea prior to following his compatriot to Inter Milan.[LNB]Since stepping out from under Mourinho's wing in 2009, Villas-Boas' ascent has been astonishingly swift.[LNB]At Porto last season, he achieved the triple of league title, Portuguese Cup and Europa League.[LNB]Now in his first year with Chelsea, after the club reportedly paid around £13million to acquire his services, Villas-Boas has made a solid start to life at Stamford Bridge.[LNB]Ahead of Sunday's trip to the Reebok Stadium to take on Bolton the Blues are third in the Premier League, three points behind leaders Manchester United.[LNB]Four years on from that first meeting, Coyle is not surprised the now 33-year-old has progressed as rapidly as he has, and that he will already be crossing swords with him in the top flight.[LNB]"Ultimately he is a winner. I saw that when we did our pro-licence together," said Coyle.[LNB]"This is not somebody who thought 'I'll go to Scotland on a whim and do a coaching badge, and then I might come back a year later.'[LNB]"This is somebody who knew exactly how they wanted to plan their future development, to go from one year to another to progress.[LNB]"That emphasises how meticulous he is in his preparation, and that goes for everything."[LNB]Coyle could recognise at the time Villas-Boas was a managerial star in the making, adding: "I think all of us on the course could see that.[LNB]"As a group we all liked him, we all took to him, and I certainly felt he was somebody driven to succeed, very good at what they do and obviously wanting to progress.[LNB]"And like anybody else, because we all crave the same thing, if an opportunity did arise then I felt pretty sure he would take it, and he has done. He has become an outstanding manager."[LNB]Coyle was also fortunate enough to get to know Villas-Boas, and like his talent, was also struck by his character.[LNB]"He is an absolute gentleman," added Coyle.[LNB]"Under Jose he had a fantastic set-up to learn, but when you sit down with him as well, you find he is a gem.[LNB]"He is somebody whose company you like. You could sit and chat with him all night about football, and any other topic, because he is a very intelligent man as well.[LNB]"And what a lot of people might not know about him is he has a very good sense of humour.[LNB]"He joined in with the banter, gave as good as he got, and we liked that about him. He didn't take himself too seriously.[LNB]"If you give a bit of stick you have to take some as well. We all did that openly with a big smile on our face, and he was a big part of that.[LNB]"I became very good friends with him on the back of that, and he is somebody I've a lot of time for, and because of that I'm looking forward to Sunday."
