Chelsea icon John Obi Mikel has declared that Andre Villas-Boas’ quest to assert his authority led to him losing the dressing room.
The now-Porto president was hailed as the ‘Next Jose Mourinho’ having led the Portuguese side to league, cup and Europa League glory in the 2010/11 season.
Villas-Boas even worked alongside the Special One at Porto as well as Stamford Bridge as his assistant, before he decided to become a head coach himself.
And having already boasted strong relations with the players, it was expected that AVB would deliver huge success at Chelsea.
Though he ultimately lasted less than a year in west London, with the Blues going on to win the Champions League and FA Cup in the months that followed his sacking.
In a recent interview with talkSPORT host Simon Jordan, Chelsea legend John Terry opened up on the feud with Villas-Boas, which started during pre-season in 2011.
In a bid to show his control, Villas-Boas wanted the club’s senior stars to board an economy flight to Hong Kong – which led to a boycott on the plane by the squad.
And now Mikel has shed new insight in how his teammates viewed Villas-Boas during his appearance on the talkSPORT Breakfast Show on Monday morning.
Chelsea defender Jason Cundy stated that Villas-Boas’ man-management skills weren’t great, leading Mikel to say: “No it wasn’t.
“I think the problem with AVB was, he was there with Jose [Mourinho], he was there when he was in his 20s.
“He saw the club and the players, he was friends with the players, and then he thought, ‘OK now I’m a manager, I need to do something, I need to show them that they have to respect me.’
“But he came in and he did it in a different, totally wrong way.
“And JT, being the captain that fights for his players, demands a lot from the club to make sure the players are looked after – especially the players that have been there.
“Senior players that have built the club like he said, you can’t ask us to fly economy.”
He continued: “It’s a bit petty isn’t it? It started with that and I think in a few games, he left Frank Lampard out.
“He didn’t explain to him why he wasn’t playing and it was just little things, trying to impose his authority straight away, ‘I am the man now, you have to respect me.’
“He went about it totally, totally the wrong way.”
Before adding: “If you come in and try to impose straight away, we’ll figure you out straightaway and you see players start to mumble and grumble.
“And then it doesn’t go well straight away from there.”
News Summary:
- John Obi Mikel details how Andre Villas-Boas lost Chelsea dressing room as he gives new insight into John Terry feud
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