Andre Villas Boas and Sir Alex Ferguson: An Unlikely Comparison

"To be born again...first you have to die," opined Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. Andre Villas-Boas must ‘die’ (just as Sir Alex Ferguson did) as soon as possible before pressure subdues and overawes the young "Mister."*

Villas-Boas walked into Chelsea as the new "Mourinho." Young, Portuguese and experienced success as the manager at FC Porto. Within a month of Oporto’s Europa League win in Dublin, Villas-Boas had agreed on a contract to be the Chelsea FC Manager till 2014. Cue allegations of Roman Abramovich’s obsession with Jose Mourinho.

Villas-Boas is clearly not Mourinho. Neither is he popular with the media or charismatic. "The Special One" came to Chelsea with the full intention to achieve some success in three to four years and then move on to one of his other objectives. He stayed two-and-a-half years, winning two leagues and multiple cups. What did Alex Ferguson achieve in his first two-and-half years at Manchester United? Trophy-wise nil. Structure-wise plenty.

When Sir Alex arrived at Old Trafford, he became worried about the drinking culture and was "depressed" by the state of their fitness. Two years at the helm ended with nothing to show for. United had finished 11th twice and had won no trophies. Ultimately, as we know, United went on to achieve unprecedented success in the Premier League. "Fergie" had subsequently "died" and been "born again." He later described the period of failure as ‘"he worst in my career." What was the reason for the Manchester United’s board’s lenience? He had changed the core of United’s structure.

He had disposed of the drinkers, Norman Whiteside and Paul McGrath. He appointed Brian Kidd as the youth team coach in 1988 and sent him out into the suburbs of Manchester to find the best young players the city had to offer. He strove to build a better youth system and place this United team back to the peak of European football. Sir Alex tried to rebuild the Institution of Manchester United that Sir Matt Busby had assembled decades previous.

"Fergie" had "died," now Villas-Boas must "die." The 34-year-old must experience failure before he can become something "special." Looking at Villas-Boas’ first half-season, we see a man who is about to fail. Instead of a drinking culture, we have a "Mourinho" culture at Stamford Bridge. The likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba are all "Mourinho men." They were "Popes," for the God, Jose. They ran the team in the dressing room and on the pitch.

One feels, however, that the three may be gone within a year. Villas-Boas has started his clean out with Nicolas Anelka heading to the money in Shanghai. Drogba and Lampard have also had less starting opportunities than previous years. However, Terry may be the "Bryan Robson" of the group, surviving the culture culling. The average age of this Chelsea group is currently 26.8. With the expected cut of Anelka, Lampard, Drogba and other players such as Florent Malouda and Paulo Ferreira, the average age would drop to 24.9 for this current squad. This will be no doubt progress for Villas-Boas, but a tough period is on the horizon.

Along with this trimming of players will come a spell of instability for the club. Alan Hansen will tell Britain that "Chelsea will win nothing without Drogba and Lampard." Abramovich starts to consider the manager’s position and media pressure is put on him to do so. Villas-Boas is now effectively "dead."

The man from Oporto will ergo become "reborn." He will gain respect of his players and gain control of a now Mourinho-less dressing room. As with Sir Alex, his personality grows even stronger, and with that he gains an overwhelming desire to succeed and achieve.

Ferguson once declared, in his autobiography, that "there are some people who want to go on holiday to Blackpool, others who want to go to Spain, and then there’s a third type, ones who want to go on holiday on the Moon and I’d place myself in the third category." This analogy precisely conveys Ferguson’s undying ethos of striving to be the best, which was born out of failure and derision. Failure and derision, two phenomena that Andre Villas-Boas will have to witness first hand in order to flourish as the Chelsea boss.

*Mister is what people in Portugal call their managers.