If Andre Villas-Boas does become the next Spurs manager, it will be truly fascinating to see if he is successful.
There will be a number of questions posed to the former Chelsea boss if he takes over at Spurs after failing at Chelsea. At Stamford Bridge he was given a big budget, but very little margin for error, and Roman Abramovich ran out of patience.
Here are five questions the manager will have to answer over the season ahead and beyond if he is appointed boss at Tottenham Hotspur.
Can he manage in the Premier League?
There is no doubt that Andre Villas-Boas is a hard working, thorough, and successful young manager. He won the league in Portugal, and won the Europa League, making him the most highly rated managerial prospect in Europe. At Chelsea, the rug was pulled from under his feet before he had the chance to fully bed in. Judging him a failure on just over half a season is too harsh, but he certainly can’t be called a success either. Doing it in the Premier League may simply be beyond him. However he does at Tottenham would answer this question absolutely. Make a success of himself and the failure at Chelsea will be forgotten. Mess up at Spurs and the Chelsea failure will underline his struggle, and he may not get a Premier League job again.
Will his demeanour and attitude have changed?
Almost from day one at Chelsea, Villas-Boas was tetchy and irritable when it came to the media. This did not help him when the pressure started building, as the tabloid writers seized on the opportunity to sink the knife in. The Portuguese manager does not have to like interviews, but he must realise they are part and parcel of the modern game. It is one thing to be arrogant when you are winning – see Jose Mourinho – but being so abrasive when your reputation is not so established will only serve to undermine your job and lose friends. A happier Villas-Boas might just make for a more successful one, which would be good for his club.
Can he handle big egos?
Tottenham do not have the same big egos at Tottenham as Villas-Boas encountered at Chelsea – see Drogba, Lampard, Cole, but the question remains. Rafael van der Vaart is a player who could pose him problems, while if Emmanuel Adebayor is re-signed it could be an accident waiting to happen. This ties in with the previous question. If Villas-Boas changes his demeanour and becomes less tetchy and indulges his stars slightly more, he may just get the best out of them. His man-management skills are a big question mark over him, and he will want to get his whole squad on side and avoid similar problems as he encountered at Stamford Bridge.
Is he too young for the job?
Villas-Boas is still only 34, seven years younger than Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Brad Friedel. Can the manager command authority while maintaining respect? As alluded to in the previous two questions, AVB was determined to be an authoritarian figure at Chelsea. He went too far, falling out with senior players. Was he trying too hard to be heard because of his young age? It is a question which will keep cropping up through his managerial career until he passes the normal player retirement age of 36/37, whether it should or not. Age should not matter, Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez were both successful at Watford and Swansea in their mid-thirties, but Tottenham like Chelsea is a bigger job. Villas-Boas should use it as a motivating factor to prove the doubters wrong, but not try to over-compensate.
Will he turn to Portugal for help?
Perhaps the surprising element of Andre Villas-Boas’ time at Chelsea last year was that he did not bring any of his successful Porto team with him. Who knows how he would have done had he been bold enough to ditch Drogba or Torres and buy Falcao or Hulk. Even if there was an agreement between Chelsea and Porto, it would not have stopped him raiding other Portuguese sides for players he would be familiar with. Instead Chelsea signed Mata, Romeu, Lukaku and Meireles at the last minute from Liverpool. At Tottenham it is intriguing to see whether he will go back to Porto or the Portuguese Liga to sign players he knows can strengthen the club and help him along the way.
Which question is the most pressing? Would he be a success at Spurs?
image: © Vladimir Maiorov
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