AVB Interview

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Andre Villas Boas has conducted an interview Portuguese TV which will cause quite a stir in English football. He's confirmed talks with Liverpool but said he has no desire to return to the Premier League given some of the negative experiences he had whilst managing clubs in London. Villas Boas has some decent points but the overriding theme of nothing being his fault won't go down too well with many supporters who became frustrated with his ways.
On Tottenham and who Mais Futebal call the president - likely to be Daniel Levy, Villas Boas said "As for the president, he offered me a challenge to increase the competitive level of Tottenham but soon Modric left and they didn't get the targets identified by me... names like Joao Moutinho, Willian, Oscar and Leandro Damiao.
"Promises that were not kept. It was a group of players chosen by me and I felt we should come out in agreement. In two years I lost Van der Vaart, Modric, Bale, and all the promises that were made failed. Anyway, I do not look at Tottenham as a negative experience. It was an experience that needed to be."
An experience that needed to be? Like tonsil removal?
Villas Boas defended his record at Tottenham and believed he did well despite the broken promises, insisting he wasn't sacked "Tottenham set a record for points and victories in my first season, came within a point of qualifying for the Champions League and made a major campaign in the Europa League, to the quarter-finals, where we were eliminated on penalties with Basel.
"I ended up leaving by mutual agreement - not dismissal - because I didn't quite support the choice of the sports director that has now been sold to other ambitions, causing me to have players without the desired profile. I speak of Franco Baldini, who came from AS Roma and is now in a down position, exiting the club."

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Villas Boas defended his record at Tottenham and believed he did well despite the broken promises, insisting he wasn't sacked "Tottenham set a record for points and victories in my first season, came within a point of qualifying for the Champions League and made a major campaign in the Europa League, to the quarter-finals, where we were eliminated on penalties with Basel.
"I ended up leaving by mutual agreement - not dismissal - because I didn't quite support the choice of the sports director that has now been sold to other ambitions, causing me to have players without the desired profile. I speak of Franco Baldini, who came from AS Roma and is now in a down position, exiting the club."

The bolded is not going to sit well here, because it does not fit the narrative that Levy wants to sack every manager for not finishing 4th - it is the same as I have suggested, that AVB left by mutual decision - with fault on both sides.

The last sentence is a bit confusing - is he suggesting Baldini is going to be out of the club soon?

 

[TaoistMonkey]

It was no surprise that he wanted abc and got xyz.

Broken promises, eh. Got to love Levy.

 

[kaz Hirai]

The bolded is not going to sit well here, because it does not fit the narrative that Levy wants to sack every manager for not finishing 4th - it is the same as I have suggested, that AVB left by mutual decision - with fault on both sides.

The last sentence is a bit confusing - is he suggesting Baldini is going to be out o th eclub soon?

I think many knew he wasn't sacked out right and it was more of a mutual thing. He blatantly wasn't happy with the transfer policy at the club as Poch is now experiencing himself.

want Schniderlin....errrm meh he's a little expensive Mauricio , you can have Stambouli if you like

 

[ajspurs]

I always thought it was AVB who wanted VDV out. Or maybe he did only if he got Moutinho.

 

[mpickard2087]

Nice to see my 'mutual agreement' belief confirmed...

The rest just proves the guy was in La-La land. That list of players he wanted, of which SS57 reels off quite regularly, was even longer than that and would have run to hundreds of millions of pounds, before we even got to wages for them all. He just didn't get it.

 

[Mustard]

It was no surprise that he wanted abc and got xyz.

Broken promises, eh. Got to love Levy.

The man with the plan.

 

[Donki]

Couldn't hack the pressure IMO which showed in some of his judgement calls, would have shown more class if he kept his mouth shut, but managers simply can't do that for some reason.

He is one of those coaches who needs to have exactly what he needs and be at the best club in league for him to do well... having said that he bombed at the Chavs too.

 

[Mullers]

At least there is absolute confirmation now it was mutual consent and there isn't a need to speculate.
The board shouldn't have promised him those players if they knew it wasn't possible to get them and shouldn't propose he get a fourth place finish when they can't afford him the players to do so.

 

[crokey]

Couldn't hack the pressure IMO which showed in some of his judgement calls, would have shown more class if he kept his mouth shut, but managers simply can't do that for some reason.

He is one of those coaches who needs to have exactly what he needs and be at the best club in league for him to do well... having said that he bombed at the Chavs too.

You really are a Donki aren't you

 

[mpickard2087]

On Tottenham and who Mais Futebal call the president - likely to be Daniel Levy, Villas Boas said "As for the president, he offered me a challenge to increase the competitive level of Tottenham but soon Modric left and they didn't get the targets identified by me... names like Joao Moutinho, Willian, Oscar and Leandro Damiao.

And on this bit especially... Yeah, you were offered a challenge AVB. Quite obviously its to try and make us competitive on a limited (well, compared to the top teams) budget. And even more obviously the challenge was to use all your supposed tactical nous, get everything out of the resources at your disposal such as the numerous young players at the club and the academy in order to bridge the financial gap.

Unfortunately, dear old Andre seemed to think 'increase the competitive level' meant signing £300m worth of players and that's it.

 

[TaoistMonkey]

Couldn't hack the pressure IMO which showed in some of his judgement calls, would have shown more class if he kept his mouth shut, but managers simply can't do that for some reason.

He is one of those coaches who needs to have exactly what he needs and be at the best club in league for him to do well... having said that he bombed at the Chavs too.

I think he had a plan and wanted who he thought were best for that plan. It didn't happen.

Shame

 

[Donki]

You really are a Donki aren't you

Pray tell why?

 

[Mullers]

Nice to see my 'mutual agreement' belief confirmed...

The rest just proves the guy was in La-La land. That list of players he wanted, of which SS57 reels off quite regularly, was even longer than that and would have run to hundreds of millions of pounds, before we even got to wages for them all. He just didn't get it.

I seem to remember Sandro coming out and saying we should get Oscar and there was plenty of excitement about it to around here.

 

[RuskyM]

Unfortunately, dear old Andre seemed to think 'increase the competitive level' meant signing £300m worth of players and that's it.

This isn't even what he's saying. He's saying he was promised some good players, yet within two months of joining 2/3 of our best players were sold and replaced by players he didn't want.

And I refuse to believe Moutinho not being a Spurs player is anything other than a Levy last-minute clusterfuck. Heard the "too difficult" story too many times for it to always be everyone else. Shame because I'm certain with him we'd have been top four.

 

[mpickard2087]

I seem to remember Sandro coming out and saying we should get Oscar and there was plenty of excitement about it to around here.

Well that's all well and good, shame someone else in the market wanted to pay double the price and triple the wages we were going to pay for him and blew us out of the water.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

I think it is quite an acceptable interview. OK, so it doesn't reek of self criticism, but that's generally the essence of the club, the league, and the industry. I read loads about the silliness of AVB's wish list. One, naturally a coach doesn't expect to get ALL of his wishes. If one happens, another wish becomes redundant. Two, OK, so the guy had some ambition on his and the teams behalf. Make fun of ambition as much as you want. As the interview shows, the problem wasn't that he didn't get Oscar and this and that. It was the combination of seeing stars go whilst not seeing any star come the opposite way. In fact, many on this very forum is upset with Levy for the very same thing, not replacing like for like. All in all, I'm sad the AVB-spell didn't work out, and looking forward to when both AVB and TS are really closed chapters in the past.

 

[Donki]

I think he had a plan and wanted who he thought were best for that plan. It didn't happen.

Shame

Yeah fair enough but we aren't a club who can attract the best players unfortunately, Heck I could say Messi , Ronaldo, Zlatan and Pogba are the best for the club doesn't mean I should be a football manager.

Willian, Oscar and Moutinho cost a combinded total of about £70 million quid plus good knows what on wages.

 

[Mullers]

The interview confirms that Levy and the board are bullshitters trying to get blood out of a stone.

 

[Mullers]

Yeah fair enough but we aren't a club who can attract the best players unfortunately, Heck I could say Messi , Ronaldo, Zlatan and Pogba are the best for the club doesn't mean I should be a football manager.

Willian, Oscar and Moutinho cost a combinded total of about £70 million quid plus good knows what on wages.

How much did we spend on transfers when we sold Bale?