Andre Villas-Boas: His Chelsea Career and Sacking in Numbers

If Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was given a pound for every Internet user who visits Bleacher Report in a month, he still wouldn't have enough to cover the overall cost of sacking Andre Villas-Boas.

The 34-year-old manager, signed from FC Porto in June 2011, was given the usual high compensation awarded to axed Blues bosses. A similar amount of money will probably be required to bring in a new man for the job.

With all the figures flying around Stamford Bridge right now, one wonders whether it might be easier and more cost effective for Abramovich to take over the manager's role himself.

After all, if the Russian billionaire was to look at some of the numbers in this slideshow, he might want to think twice about his cut-throat approach to managerial recruitment.

Two

This was the number of senior players in the Chelsea dressing room Andre Villas-Boas managed to get rid of before his time was up.

Centre-back Alex, 29, went to Paris Saint-Germain for £4.2 million; Nicolas Anelka, 32, left for Shanghai Shenhua in China for an undisclosed fee.

It was always a race against time for Villas-Boas to rebuild his squad, hoping he could at least get to the end of the season before finally getting rid of the deleterious older players, who were no doubt hampering the team's chances of success.

Eight

This is the number of managers currently linked with the Chelsea job now that AVB has left—showing just how popular his role was.

Sven Goran Eriksson threw his name into the hat yesterday, and Everton boss David Moyes has become the latest to be linked.

Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho is reportedly considering a return to Chelsea—if he gets £12 million a year and is able to bring Cristiano Ronaldo with him (what a sensational story that would be).

Meanwhile, FC Barcelona supremo Pep Guardiola, who has long since had doubts over how much longer he will remain at the Camp Nou, is apparently Roman Abramovich's ideal managerial choice.

Swansea City manager Brendan Rodgers ruled himself out but continues to be linked; Germany manager Joachim Loew is another reported contender.

Former Liverpool and Inter Milan boss Rafael Benitez has talked up a move to Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has also been mooted as a contender, despite being the favourite for the England job.

Nine

Nine managers have been through the revolving Stamford Bridge door at Chelsea in the Roman Abramovich era, which started in June 2003.

That's nine managers in less than nine seasons. They are: Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Ray Wilkins, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas and now Roberto di Matteo.

Their most successful spells came when the manager was given time. In three years, Mourinho won two Premier League titles, two League Cups and an FA Cup title.

In two season, Ancelotti won the Premier League and FA Cup.

And surprisingly, in Abramovich's quest for UEFA Champions League glory, it was the universally derided Avram Grant who almost delivered it, reaching the final in 2008 and only losing out to Manchester United on penalties.

11

This is the number of shots Chelsea conceded on average each game in the league under Andre Villas-Boas—the lowest of any team in the Premier League.

Yet they have still managed to concede more goals than five other teams, namely Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Everton and Sunderland.

At Stamford Bridge, the Blues have conceded the second lowest amount of shots per game, nine, behind only Arsenal who conceded 8.8 on average.

Away from home, Chelsea concede 12.4 shots, again the second lowest, this time behind league leaders Man City.

18.2

This is the number of shots on goal Chelsea had under Andre Villas-Boas, the second highest in the Premier League, again behind leaders Manchester City.

However, despite creating the second most amount of chances, they've scored only the fifth highest amount of goals, trailing City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in the goal-grabbing stakes.

The Blues have scored 47 goals this season from a total of 492 shots—10.5 shots per goal.

The West London side have scored 22 fewer than the league leaders, who've 69 goals from 508 shots—7.4 shots per goal.

21 (from 29)

This is the amount of goals, from the number of games, Andre Villas-Boas' key signing when in charge of Chelsea made for the team.

Juan Mata, signed from Valencia for £23.5 million and considered an "AVB player," has so far scored nine goals and made 12 assists from 29 matches in all competitions this season.

The 23-year-old World Cup winner from Spain has proven to be a very good signing for Chelsea this season and at least is one positive part of the legacy the Portuguese tactician will leave at the club.

39

This is the number of games Andre Villas-Boas went undefeated in a league game as a manager until that run ended with his first defeat in charge at Chelsea.

His team lost 3-1 away to Manchester United in a game remembered for that shocking Fernando Torres miss.

Villas-Boas' last league defeat came all the way back in 2010 when he was manager of Académica de Coimbra.

People seem to forget that the young manager had a stellar track record prior to his appointment at Chelsea.

40

This is the number of games Andre Villas-Boas lasted as Chelsea manager.

Not including caretaker managers, Villas-Boas' reign at the Blues helm was the third shortest in the club's history, behind only Luiz Felipe Scolari (36 matches) and Danny Blanchflower (32 matches), who was in charge from December 1978 to September 1979.

The longest serving manager in the club's history is David Calderhead, a Scotsman who was in charge of the side from July 1907 to June 1933, and he took control for 966 matches.

A far cry from the Abramovich era.

47.5

This was Andre Villas-Boas' win percentage at the Chelsea helm.

His records stands at P 40 W 19 D 11 L10.

That win rate is actually the ninth best in the Blues' history, not including caretaker managers, so there was definitely potential for improvement if only the former FC Porto boss was given more time.

88.24

This was Andre Villas-Boas win percentage at FC Porto. Quite a huge difference and undoubtedly the reason why the manager was so sought after and of course why Chelsea badly wanted him.

His record at Porto was P 51 W 45 D 4 L 2. 

13,300,000

That was the compensation paid, in GBP, to Porto for Andre Villas-Boas' services, the most in world football history.

Not including all the other costs, the "transfer fee" alone meant it cost £332,500 per game just to bring Villas-Boas to the club.

50,000,000

This is not the transfer fee for flop Fernando Torres, rather the minimum overall estimated cost of Andre Villas-Boas being at Chelsea and replacing him.

Roman Abramovich spent £13.3 million bringing AVB in, £10 million paying off Carlo Ancelotti and his backroom staff and then gave Villas-Boas £90,000-a-week to take charge of the team, meaning he earned £3.5 million from the 40 games he was in charge.

Now Villas-Boas has been paid £11 million in compensation, which means up to now, Abramovich has spent £37.8 million on the young tactician.

Factor in the salary and compensation required to bring in a new manager, and the figure undoubtedly will rise to at least £50 million and probably more.

82,450,000

Lastly, despite Andre Villas-Boas supposedly being treated unfairly at Chelsea, there's one thing nobody can accuse Roman Abramovich of—not financially backing his manager.

Villas-Boas was given a massive salary and an even bigger transfer kitty, which is the figure above in GBP.

In the summer transfer window, Villas-Boas spent £62.25 million bringing in Juan Mata (£23.5 million), Romelu Lukaku (£18 million), Raul Meireles (£12 million), Thibaut Courtois (£7 million), Oriol Romeu (£5 million) and Ulises Davila (£1.75 million).

In the winter transfer window, the manager spent £20.2 million bringing in Gary Cahill (£7 million), Kevin de Bruyne (£6.7 million), Lucas Piazon (£5 million) and Patrick Bamford (£1.5 million).

So for all the criticisms over Abramovich's treatment of Villas-Boas, he did in all fairness give him one of the most enviable transfer budgets in world football.

Sources

Here are the sources for the information in this slideshow:

WhoScored.com

List of Chelsea FC Managers, Wikipedia

2011-12 Chelsea FC Season, Wikipedia