Another One Bites the Dust - AVB Axed!

Over the years, I’ve observed two general extremes of football management styles. The first extreme is characterized by micromanagement and mainly result oriented, similar to the management style of Rafa Benitez, Hector Cooper, and Louis Van Gaal.  They are seen as an authority figure; they put in place strict rules, schedules, and shout out specific instructions. These types of managers will not spend time with players, discuss their concerns, and have no room for small talk. Their primary tool for motivation is fear. Perform well or you’ll be dropped from the squad! They are not particularly liked, praised, or backed by their players, but nonetheless, their personality and demeanor usually commands respect in the dressing room. The success or failure of these managers depends heavily on delivering consistent results. Once the results start to go against the team, the manager becomes unapproachable, the rules becomes stricter, the players lose their confidence as fear no longer motivates them, and inevitably, the manager loses his job. 

The other extreme is a more relaxed environment that is mainly player focused. An example of this would be the management styles of Wenger, Ancelotti, Guardiola and Mourinho. These managers, while also authoritative in nature, as any good leader would be, try to form bonds with their players.  They command respect by making time for each player, discussing their concerns and assuring them of their value and abilities, always striving to bring out the best in their players. Under these managers, instead of imposing strict rules and schedules, the players discipline themselves as they look forward to their training sessions and working with their coaches. With this type of manager in charge, his players go out onto the field with confidence and are quick to overturn a bad run of form.

While managers who practice both styles can be tactical geniuses, it is usually the latter that has seen the most success in recent years.

Andreas Villas Boas

Nurtured under Bobby Robson and Jose Mourinho, Manager Andreas Villas-Boas made a name for himself in Porto, where he went a whole season undefeated. He broke records for most consecutive wins and most points captured in the Portuguese league. With no experience as a professional football player, and only 9 months of coaching experience at the Academy Level, Villas-Boas took the helm at Porto and went on to win 4 trophies in his first year in football management. It was a dream start to AVB’s career and it caught the attention of Abramovich, who forked out 15 million Euros to bring the young magician to take charge of Chelsea – believing him to be the Alchemist with the Philosopher’s stone who will finally deliver the Champions League trophy that has eluded the club for so long.

Andreas Villas-Boas got off to a good start with his new team winning 9 out of his first 12 matches. Performances began to deteriorate in mid-December, however, as Chelsea were not able to find a win in 4 consecutive games, January was a little bit brighter as the team won 4 of their 6 games, but it wasn’t long before the sun set again on AVB and Chelsea, with their latest run extending to only 1 win in 7 matches including a 3-1 Champions League defeat at the hands of Napoli. The odds were stacked against the young manager, and after only 256 days in charge, Andreas Villas-Boas got the inevitable ax.

Why did Andreas Villas-Boas fail?

It has little to do with his football knowledge, tactics and technical aptitude. The primary culprit was AVB’s management style.

AVB adopted a result focused micro-management style; he implemented strict rules and became overly obsessed with the details. Despite his vigorous work ethics, always being the first to arrive and the last to leave, and often drowning himself with technical data and research, AVB failed to address the most pressing problem. With every passing day, his players grew tired of their manager monitoring their every move, and with results going against them, it allowed the players to scrutinize every decision their manager makes.   

A man with minimal coaching experience was given the task of dealing with accomplished players who are of a similar age group. For a player like Lampard, Terry, Cech, or Anelka to actually listen to AVB and treat him not only as an equal, but as a superior requires great charisma and man management skills - two traits that AVB lacked. It was no surprise that as soon as AVB announced his no-Lampard lineup, tension began to mount.

Excluding Lampard is something AVB should have avoided if he were a bit wiser. Lampard is still one of the best players at Chelsea –In all competitions this season; Lampard has scored the most goals, and has the second highest assist tally.  As a newcomer, the boss must try to keep the club’s most influential players on his side. Had that happened, there would have been more unity and team spirit in the dressing room and on the field. Alas, it seems Villas-Boas’ ego caught up with him – with an overly aggressive attitude and the mindset of turning the whole club around, AVB expected everyone to do his bidding.

Football management includes a tactical aspect as well as a management aspect; AVB’s short stint at Chelsea does not imply that he is a poor tactician; however, it does show that if he is to succeed at big clubs, he must adjust his management approach, especially when dealing with world class players and big egos.

Ultimately, the blame lies on Abramovich’s shoulders.

The Russian billionaire paid 15 million Euros for a largely unproven manager who won 4 titles in the first year of his career, to replace Carlo Ancelotti, a world class manager who has won 14 major trophies, including 2 Champions Leagues, during his 17 years of experience as a manager with top European clubs.

Ancelotti won the Premier League and the FA Cup in his first season in charge at Chelsea. In his second season, Chelsea finished 2nd, only 3 points behind eventual winners Manchester United, who also eliminated Chelsea in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League. Ancelotti had expressed, more than once, his desire to keep his job but despite achieving the highest win ratio of his career at Stamford Bridge (61.5%), he was still given the sack.

Simply put, Abramovich made a terrible mistake for which Chelsea may have to pay a heavy price. The squad will now have to pull together to salvage a valuable 4^th place finish from a largely disappointing season.