Roman panicked ! Fired AVB too soon says ex-Blue Alex
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Roman panicked! Chelsea chief fired AVB too soon says ex-Blue Alex
Former Bridge defender reckons club's dread of being overtaken by Manchester City and Tottenham got Villas-Boas the sack
Shaky ground: Villas-Boas and Alex during their brief spell together at the Bridge
Roman Abramovich has been accused of being panicked into sacking Andre Villas-Boas.
Chelsea's billionaire Russian owner was spooked into the move by the rise of London rivals Tottenham and the growing power of Manchester City, according to ex-Blues defender Alex.
Villas-Boas - ironically appointed as Spurs boss earlier this month - was sacked in March, less than a year after Abramovich triggered a £13million release clause to sign him from Porto.
Now, Alex – who played for AVB at Stamford Bridge before moving to Paris Saint-Germain in January – has revealed the extent of the pressure the Portuguese was under in west London.
The centre-back said: “We [at PSG] certainly aren’t under the same amount of pressure.
“Mr Abramovich never hesitated to show up and demand more effort – there were several team meetings.
“We’ve met representatives of the owners, but the relationship at PSG is definitely less intense.”
Although he slipped down the pecking order behind David Luiz and then January signing Gary Cahill under Villas-Boas, Alex believes Abramovich should have shown more patience with the 34-year-old.
He told Champions magazine: “Andre should have been given more time.
“After all, the club spent a lot of money getting him from Porto and needed to take into account that there was a new manager with new players to settle in.
“Everybody [at Chelsea] was starting to look over their shoulders because Manchester City had arrived in the top four and Spurs were catching up.”
Fall guy: Abramovich feared dropping out of the Premier League's top four
Villas-Boas’ predecessor at Chelsea was Carlo Ancelotti, who Alex has since followed to PSG.
The Italian was also dismissed prematurely last year, 12 months after winning the Double at Stamford Bridge.
By contrast, Ancelotti retains the confidence of PSG's Qatari owners, despite finishing second in the French League to shock winners Montpellier, who have a far lower playing budget.
PSG have responded by splashing the cash to land defender Thiago Silva and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, both from AC Milan, for a total of £51m.
Alex went on: “A team needs at least two seasons to gel properly and get itself into a position to challenge regularly for trophies.
“When I joined PSG it was clear to me that we would not start winning things overnight.
“It’s understandable that the arrival of the new owners and all the media coverage the team was receiving could get people overexcited.
“But the players were always aware that we are in the process of building a foundation.”
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In the end they still dropped out what.....just that they tyco win the CL only
AVB was given too little time...but too rich is like that one lor, anyhow fire ppl
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The sacking of AVB actually united the chelsea players and they wanted to play well to prove AVB wrong.
So, AVB is instrumental in Chelsea winning FA Cup and CL.
As for the pressure, it comes with in a package when you are paid so much.
Same for ponytail in which Liverpool want to dump now.
But, AVB should be able to show his stuff with Spurs next season.