It may come as a surprise to some to hear that Andre Villas-Boas is still only 40-years-old.
The Portuguese is one of those young coaches who seems like he has been around forever.
What has he achieved in that time, one might be justified in asking?
For one, he has become synonymous with the phrase “proving himself”. That was what it was all about at Chelsea, and then at Tottenham. Opinion was divided as to whether he should be welcomed to the Premier League – there is still, frustratingly, a tendency to revel in the failure of managers who have come from abroad with alien tactics and systems. And yet, there were others who would have loved to see him do well.
Now he is in China, via Russia, although that may not be the case for much longer. Shanghai SIPG have ended his first season in charge without silverware, losing the cup final to rivals Shanghai Shenhua on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate result.
Finishing as runners-up is something they will be accustomed to, having come second in the league. They fell short in the Asian Champions League too, reaching the semi-finals, before losing out to Urawa Reds.
For many, AVB’s presence in the Far East had already indicated that his career was at a standstill. If players are criticised for moving to the lucrative Chinese Super League, then the same has to apply for managers, however necessary a step it may have been for them. When he was appointed in November 2016, it was reported that he would be raking in a salary of around £11million a year – around double what Mauricio Pochettino earns, his permanent successor at Tottenham.
The question, of course, is what it would have meant if Villas-Boas had won anything. The failings of managers is one area of football where we are inclined to have long memories, and until he is ready to venture back into the European game again, he will struggle to win many of his critics over.
AVB’s future in China is now in doubt. It’s not just that his reign has failed to bring trophies. A man who was once thought of as a future Jose Mourinho has borne resemblances to the Special One, but more ‘third-year-at-a-club-about-to-be-sacked’ Mourinho. His criticisms of the Chinese Super League have been open, some of his comments utterly bizarre.
Ahead of an Asian Champions League game against Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Guangzhou Evergrande earlier this season, he accused saboteurs of deliberately staging car crashes to disrupt his team’s bus on their way to the stadium.
Just as he began sleeping in a Japanese-style pod at Chelsea’s training ground when the going got tough, AVB is inclined to display behaviour that prompts genuine concerns for his wellbeing. There should be significantly less pressure on him in China, and yet it seems to be getting to him more than ever.
When the question of whether he will be staying on was put to him by the assembled media ahead of the weekend’s cup final, he responded:
“My decision has already been taken regarding next season.
“You will know it at the end of the season, but it’s already taken and it’s not dependent on the result of the cup.”
A young coach so highly-rated by the late, great Sir Bobby Robson must have something about him. This season will go down as another of his ‘not-quites’, a run he must face up to boldly when he considers what job to take next.
