AVB – Don’t call me special



AVB – Don’t call me special

Blues boss would prefer to be called the ‘Group One’

Villas-Boas is unveiled by Chelsea and will be tasked with winning the Premier League and Champions League

New Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas does not want to be called the ‘Special One’ until he has brought success to Stamford Bridge.

The 33-year-old was appointed earlier in June as ruthless Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s seventh manager in as many years after Porto were paid a staggering £13.2million release clause.

Predecessor Carlo Ancelotti was abruptly sacked on the final day of last season for failing to win a trophy, despite securing the Premier League and FA Cup Double in his debut campaign in England.

As a result, Villas-Boas will be tasked with recovering the league title from Manchester United, while Abramovich’s seemingly all-consuming dream of the UEFA Champions League will involve somehow overthrowing the brilliant Barcelona.

To add to the pressure on the Portuguese, he worked as an opposition scout at Stamford Bridge under former boss and compatriot Jose Mourinho, the club’s most successful manager of the modern era, to mean that comparisons have been drawn to the self-titled ‘Special One’.

Having already confirmed Roberto Di Matteo as his new assistant, Villas-Boas told a press conference broadcast on Sky Sports News: “Listen, I will wait for you guys to give me the title when I am successful.

“I hope to be successful and I hope you get a good title in the end.

“This is not a one-man show. This is a question of creating empathy and motivations and ambitions and raising ambitions in everybody in every sense.

“Not only the players, but the staff that surrounds me and all of the people of this organisation.

“I will take it from there. Maybe I should be called the ‘Group One’. I want to group people together to be successful and that is my objective.”

Villas-Boas also side-stepped questions about how he may look to take on established Premier League managers such as United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

“It’s not just a question of me taking on Sir Alex, it’s a top club like Chelsea challenging for the title,” he said.

“We need to be up there from the beginning and it is not one man against the other, it’s about trying to build something that can make us powerful, and help us threaten for the title as we have in the past.”

Villas-Boas, who won the Europa League as well as the Portuguese League and cup with Porto last season, also insisted he is not fazed by the demands for success placed on managers at Chelsea.

He said: “The expectations are for the maximum. We want to win trophies, that is the challenge we face day by day in any business.

“Everyone wants to be the best and win something and the challenge is to win as soon as possible and to build a platform for the future.

“This is nothing different from any other club, the challenge in your everyday life is to be successful in what you do and that is the challenge I face here.”

(source: skysports.com)