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To Be or To Not AVB…

4 min read
by The Fighting Cock
Right now we have no manager, the touted press conference today where Andre Villas Boas sets out his game plan is yet to happen, we just have been told by ‘In The Knows’, with varying degrees of credibility that he is the man to take the over the reigns at White Hart Lane. This appeared […]

Right now we have no manager, the touted press conference today where Andre Villas Boas sets out his game plan is yet to happen, we just have been told by ‘In The Knows’, with varying degrees of credibility that he is the man to take the over the reigns at White Hart Lane. This appeared to be gospel that at 10am this morning he was meant to have had his press conference announcing his tenure at the club… maybe I missed that!

But let’s suppose that everyone has it right and we decide to take on the young Portuguese manager, AVB could be accused of having the ‘damaged goods’ tag. Had he been coming straight from Porto we’d be talking about taking on young, raw and highly successful managerial talent. However, the Chelsea experience has been a chastening time for the Mourinho protégé, I can sympathise with him being given the almost impossible job of clearing out the old squad and starting afresh, but tellingly and fatally he fell out with the squad last time around. Much as I have no love the team with the 8 year history, we need to look at it pragmatically to see if he can be a success at Spurs.

I have some concerns about AVB’s people skills, I can see a manager falling out with players like Drogba, Terry and Cole as they are players likely to have a bit of ego about them, but the Lampard fallout did seem odd, you can say what you like about Fat Frank but he hasn’t had issues with any of the many ex-Chelsea managers or anyone at West Ham. I don’t buy the argument that the Chelsea squad were just a bunch of prima donas with a cabal that essentially ran the first team affairs, as much as I’d like to believe that.

There were also reports (the Daily Mail and Guardian) in December of last season where AVB had allegedly given instruction to the squad to celebrate goals with him. Now some might say this is a fallacy made up by someone who does not like him, I think, at the very least, someone in the squad was briefing against him. If that story was true it shows that he felt that he was not part of the squad there and that he needed the chairman and fans to see he was loved, perhaps his ego needed to be massaged. He also may have also been seen as a ‘Mourinho Lite’ specifically within Chelsea; having scouted for them between 2004-2007 perhaps the players never really perceived him as anything more than a man with a clipboard. It’s fair to say he failed to garner the respect of the squad and they had not bought in to his vision.

Even if we say that AVB did not win over his squad something was flawed in his vision, the defensive line did not look right, the high line seemed to leave them exposed at key points in their season. The 3-5 loss at home to Woolwich was particularly shambolic and losing to a fairly lightweight Liverpool side at home had exposed the same weaknesses in Chelsea’s defensive set up. To temper the criticism some credit would have to go to him for getting a home win over Man City and winning 3-0 at Newcastle.

Some might also point out that Abramovic is infamously quick to get rid of his managers when things don’t go to plan and the AVB sacking was a reaction to losing away to a very strong Napoli side in the Champions League. The story of Carlo Ancelotti getting sacked in a tunnel at Goodison Park shows how ruthlessly Abramovic reacts to failure. Think of the speed in which he wrote off the £11m odd pounds release clause from Porto to secure AVB’s precocious talent and paid around another £10 million (allegedly) to offload him to unemployment.

The mantra that I’ve seen from spectators, reporters and fans alike seemed that he tried to change too much too soon, all a bit strange when he was aiming to implement a 5 year plan. And perhaps we should beware the 5 year plan also, because if the short term isn’t looking great, patience only goes so far and I don’t believe that Daniel Levy is a great deal more tolerant than the Russian Billionaire down the road.

AVB will have had to convince our board here that he has genuinely learnt the lessons of the past. He needs to identify where he failed, what he can bring to Tottenham and why the mistakes that happened with Chelsea won’t happen here. He can make some genuine claims about his credentials, his win ratio at Porto was 88% with just 2 losses from 52 games, some might say that was because he inherited a very strong squad but he still created a hell of a record there.

If AVB is to take the Manager role he still has everything to prove, that he can take his Porto model and make it work again, the question is can he bring us success?

[author name=”78Spur” tag=”78Spur[/linequote]

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8 Comments

  1. Dubai Spurs
    03/07/2012 @ 1:32 pm

    I’m simply not convinced by AVB, and I strongly believe that it was a huge mistake to sack Harry… a gamble that Spurs simply did not need to take. Sometimes politics is sadly more important than the football. If a manager falls out with his chairman there is only one obvious loser… and it ain’t the chairman. Naturally, as a Spurs supporter, I hope I’m 100% wrong and AVB becomes a massive success at Spurs. I just can’t see it though. Doom and gloom is the order of the day. If we finish 5th or worse then the knives will be out for Levy as well as AVB !!

    • JIM
      03/07/2012 @ 1:46 pm

      spot on, really hope my gut instinct is wrong and this bloke can sort it out but all i can hear at the moment is laughter, laughter from every other club in the league that it looks like we have shot ourselves in the foot yet again, just as we were looking like we were getting somewhere.
      To my dismay there is never any realism at spurs, alot of fans need to wake up and face where we really are.

  2. Andre5
    03/07/2012 @ 1:44 pm

    I am slightly nervous because of the Chelsea debacle, but the board absolutely made the right decision to get rid of Harry. We got rid of a manager who has won 1 trophy in 35+ years of management and increased our relative position from 5th (with Jol) to 4th – 1 position. If that is his record, what indicates he can take the next step? Yes he steadied the ship, he was the right man at the right time. But that time has passed. We are steady, we now need someone with energy, drive and a vision to make us into a true top 3 team.
    AVB has a mixed record, but he has already achieved more, knows what is required and should have the energy to drive it through. I will just have to hope like everyone else that the board also got this decision right.

  3. JayMon
    03/07/2012 @ 1:53 pm

    I’m very optimistic about AVB if we get him in. He was known at Porto for an attacking style of football that we already play. Anything tacticswise is better than Harry “Get out there and f*#cking run around a bit” Redknapp, and we’ve reached a point where man motivation simply isn’t enough. Evidence of this being clear for all to see during the last 2 months of the season where players weren’t playing well and he had no answer tactically.

    He thought he was in a position where he couldn’t lose as he naturally assumed the England job was his. Something shinier came along and he lost all focus.

    The future is AVB!

  4. IoanX
    03/07/2012 @ 2:06 pm

    Harry was correctly sacked but I believe that the high expectations raised for AVB don’t match reality.
    In his short career he was successful only once in his own country with a top European club but he failed in his first attempt to coach a club abroad. During his stay at Chelsea he didn’t prove that he is a great tactician and he was clueless when Chelsea couldn’t win a game. On the contrary, his successor could immediately turn around the performance of the team and win the FA cup and the CL, the highest European trophy. That means something.

  5. davspurs
    03/07/2012 @ 2:55 pm

    Well he is our Manage AVB A Very Bad manager lets hope not.. Mr Levey and Mr Lewis have sacked a manager who was the nations choice for England and in spite of injuries stupid loans Pienaar Caulker and others And the court case desperate teams players being tapped in January because our manager was suppose to be the next England boss.This was seconded by the deadly silence coming from the ex Man City chairman Bernstien. All this makes you wonder Ady was on loan from City he had is worse spell of form during our ten points evaporation when Spurs where challenging City for the title. This shows me Harry in spite of all these problems and distractions Harry still managed to get us into 4TH ahead of Newcastle overachievers and Chelsea old boys thanks to ABV bad start and sacking in February. We should be looking forward too some exciting signings for H . B. J. but sadly its players leaving players coming in and a season of unknown. And this is why because last year we did the double over Liverpool beat Arsenal at Home before Dr Wenger sudden energy surge helped is team into 3rd and desperate teams scuppered our season like Villa 1-1 Norwich 2-1 a team we hammered at there ground remember Chelsea beat Barcelona and Bayern with a young energized Drugba so Norwich beating Spurs was not a shock to me.This will shock you but make you think Football is in denial about teams using supplements to up there work rate Spain have just crushed ten man Italy with a very high work rate both in attack and even more impressive in defence. This has the media and fans talking about Spain being one of the best nations for pure football yet three of there players where in a team reported for taking supplements to make them run and they won the Champs league with this club also. So Avb will face the same work rate Harry faced in the desperate weeks after January where clubs where escaping the dreaded drop and trying to secure the top four money laden Champs league. and City Utd Arsenal Chelsea made it and all these have more revenue more even Newcastle have 60,000 stadium. This begs the question what does Mr Levey and Mr tax Dodger Lewis want Spurs to achieve within the new fair play rules.

  6. nicholson61
    04/07/2012 @ 9:10 am

    Like most, I feel anxious and excited at the same time! The anxiety obviously comes from his time spent
    down the Fulham Rd (the irony appeals!) but the excitement comes from the fact we have the players
    (unlike Chelsea) who can play, an therefore be more willing, to play AVB’s style of football!That coupled,
    an I think this is an important factor, AVB and Tim Sherwood have previous positive history, clicked on
    a coaching course a couple of years back, mutual respect and all that! As I think TS will initially be a
    great buffer (initially!) in the dressing room between AVB and the players.

    COYS!!

  7. nicholson61
    05/07/2012 @ 2:19 am

    Lads! I signed up to TFC because I enjoyed the articulate, thought provoking articles. But given
    the time between each one, it’s no wonder they are thought provoking, as it obviously takes you’s
    so much thought!!!

    Sorry boys! But I need my fix on a daily (72 hours at least!) basis! But keep on with the quality, for
    the non addicts!!

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