Boas Constricted

You're a young football manager. You've just won the Division Four title with Titchy United. Suddenly the phone rings. You excitedly press it to your ear, and it's Richy Moneybags, the chairman of MegaGiant Rovers (the champions of the Premiership). He wants you to replace the retiring Beloved McAwesome as manager. Are you ready for it? No. But you're not willing to turn down a shot at the title. You enthusiastically mutter "Yesss" over the phone, and a contract is sent your way.

It all goes wrong though. Through inexperience, you fail to get the stubborn millionaires in the team to perform in the first three months and Moneybags calls you into his gigantic office made of solid gold. He licks his fat lips and dismisses you with an iron grin. You beg, plead, implore. He looks down his nose at you and points to the door. Your career is over. His never will be.

Pull away from that dramatisation, and we have a slight resemblance in the Andre Villas-Boas situation. The 34-year old is apparently already "under pressure" according to certain media outlets, having only been in the Chelsea hotseat for three months. Several recent defeats leave the Blues in fifth; a far cry from their initial title ambitions.

However, when you appoint a very young, inexperienced manager, what do you expect? Though Villas-Boas' success with Porto was immediate, the canyon between the Portuguese and English leagues is vast. It is wildly unrealistic to expect Villas-Boas to win the title in his first season at Chelsea, and if Abramovich really appointed him with such instant achievements in mind, he really has no idea how to run a football club.

I was of the opinion that the implementation of such a young manager was a plan for stability at the club. With him in charge, a few seasons of leeway could be given as he built the team up and worked out his style of play, allowing him to gradually make a squad stronger than Chelsea have ever had. Though a rare example, Sir Alex Ferguson now defines the rewards of this patient approach, with his first few years in charge being a huge struggle before the part of the story where you go "the rest is history".

However, if the suggestions of Villas-Boas being under pressure are true, the patient approach is thrown away completely. The Portuguese manager has at least shown certain levels of competence, bringing in the excellent Juan Mata and keeping the team tight to the top four. It would be a little bit insane not to even give him to the January transfer window in order to get things the way he wants them.

If Andre Villas-Boas is sacked within the first season of his reign, the board must admit they made a huge error. Ancelotti was presumably fired because they felt a replacement would bring more trophies in the long run. They had to pick his successor carefully to ensure this, and Chelsea aren't exactly the sort of side that will struggle for resources when looking for the man they want. They went for Villas-Boas, fully aware that his lack of experience would mean he'd need a few months to get to grips with the English game.

It's all about how Chelsea wanted to approach the appointment of a new manager, and they went for the young, long-term option. Sacking him now would be an admission of failure. Villas-Boas, I'm sure, is doing his job to the best of his ability at the moment, and it's not his fault if that isn't enough.