Some Tottenham Hotspur fans will look back on former manager Andre Villas-Boas’ time with us fondly, certainly the first season with Gareth Bale in full flow prior to his big money departure to Real Madrid.
The less said about his second season in charge where he was summarily dismissed in December 2013 after a heavy 5-0 defeat to Manchester United, is probably for the better.
Villa-Boas hasn’t really hidden his disdain for how his time at White Hart Lane came to a close, and few think Daniel Levy is his best friend, but for those who maybe more doubt that a recent interview should clear things up.
Our former gaffer was speaking to Corriere dello Sport (via Talksport) and having spoken fondly of his first year stating it was ‘magnificent in all aspects’, he claimed he turned down Paris Saint-Germain out of ‘love’ for Spurs rhetorically suggesting ‘maybe that was a mistake’ before unloading both barrels at our chairman.
“In April, we started planning for the next season. I offered some names to buy and sell, but during the transfer window, the board didn’t listen and quickly destroyed everything we’d created.”
Talksport obviously take the chance to have another barb about our stadium issues but it’s a fallacy to believe AVB’s time was destroyed by the board, Yes he identified some key players that have served us well in the years since, but once Bale was removed from the equation it quickly fell apart.
I’m not sure you can claim you built anything if your foundations rested on the shoulders of a single player you inherited and it’s not like he didn’t spend a pretty penny or two either in the process but he never found a Plan B and that was his failing.
Glancing social media, he did get some support from some quarters, but the vast majority weren’t in agreement.
We destroyed his career in China too. #mercenary
— Paul Hanley (@phanley55) November 17, 2018
Bale carried this fraud.
— H Chowdhury (@H_Chowdhury) November 17, 2018
Interesting, I suppose it was the same situation with the other 5 clubs he managed! ????
— Costas Polycarpou (@costantinosp) November 17, 2018
What did he create other than a mess that had to be sorted out the same as what he done in Chelsea China Russia
— Jonathan McDonald (@jonathan_coys) November 17, 2018
Mini-mourinho!
— POCHnotronic (@BenHotspur) November 17, 2018
He didn’t create anything though!
— Syed Zaman (@snzmed) November 18, 2018
The Most Delusional Man in the World: 1. Donald Trump 2. AVB
— Peninsula Spurs (@PeninsulaSpurs) November 17, 2018