Wednesday, June 29, 2011

GreenBkk.com World Sport | Villas-Boas eyes immediate success

Villas-Boas eyes immediate success

June 29, 2011 -- Updated 1057 GMT (1857 HKT)


Andre Villas-Boas, at the age of 33, is the youngest manager in the English Premier League.

(CNN) -- Newly-appointed Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas was officially unveiled by the club on Wednesday, and the 33-year-old outlined his ambition to bring immediate success to Stamford Bridge.

Villas-Boas won the league title, the Portuguese Cup and the Europa League for Porto last season, and the former Academica coach is aware of the need to bring similar honors to the English Premier League runners-up.

"The expectations of the club are to the maximum," the one-time Chelsea scout told reporters. "Everybody wants to strive to be the best, to win something, and to be successful.

"I'm just one gear in this big club that wants to be successful every year. The challenge for me is to win as soon as possible and to build a solid platform for the future."

Could Villas-Boas succeed at Chelsea?

Villas-Boas -- who has signed a three-year with the four-time English champions -- formerly worked for Chelsea under his compatriot Jose Mourinho, who is now Real Madrid coach and who is also a former Porto boss.

Mourinho -- who brought two Premier League titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup to Chelsea -- famously dubbed himself the "Special One" when he arrived in England in 2004, but Villas-Boas stopped short of giving himself a similar title.

"I hope to be successful and I hope you [the media] give me a good title in the end! This is not a one-man show; it is a question of creating empathy and ambitions and raising ambitions.

"Maybe I should be called the 'Group One'? I want to group people together and that's my objective."

Chelsea's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich sacked Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti in May for his failure to win silverware last season, with many speculating the Russian had acted due to the west London outfit's failure to claim a first European Champions League crown.

Villas-Boas said he is fully aware the expectations at the club and that the targets remain the same ahead of the new campaign.

"The expectations for the club, you know what they are. The managers that have sat in this chair for the last six or seven years [since Abramovich took control] have challenged for trophies.

"This is nothing the owner didn't tell me, just to challenge in every way for trophies. A top club like this one, or Manchester United, or Arsenal, or the other top clubs in England, they face this challenge for trophies."

Villas-Boas also announced former Chelsea midfielder and West Bromwich Albion coach Roberto di Matteo as his assistant, and said he was satisfied with the current playing squad at Chelsea.

"I'm more than happy with the actual squad. It's nothing new that when a manager comes in radical changes are expected. I think at the moment, and bearing in mind the success this club has had, we have to judge things carefully and make wise decisions.

"We have plenty of time to judge the [transfer] market and to approach it in the way that we think is valuable for the team in the end. The thing is for the guys to feel important, because they are important, they are top quality players."

Villas-Boas will face Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on August 13 in his first league match in the Chelsea dugout, with Di Matteo's former club West Brom set to be the opponents for his first home match.

Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)

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