5 previously successful managers who failed in the Premier League
The English Premier League isn’t exactly an easy place to manage a football team. It has often been labelled as faster, more physical and more competitive than any other league. With Pep Guardiola set to take over the reigns at Manchester City next season, the football world will be closely watching to see if the current Bayern Munich boss can replicate the success he found in La Liga and the Bundesliga.
As we wait in anticipation for Pep’s Premier League revolution, we decided to find five previously successful managers who failed in the Premier League.
#1 Andre Villas-Boas
Great things were expected of Andre Villas-Boas (aka AVB) when he was appointed as Chelsea manager in 2011. The then 32-year-old was effectively bought from Porto for a record €15 million and was widely compared to Jose Mourinho. Spending just one season at Porto, AVB led the side to an undefeated treble where they won the Primeira Liga, Europa League and Portuguese Supercup.
But things didn’t go quite as well as expected at Chelsea for the Portuguese and he soon racked up losses to Manchester United, Queens Park Rangers, Arsenal and Liverpool. A dressing room bust-up with the club's senior players saw AVB drop Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Ashley Cole from a Champions League encounter against Napoli, which led to the manager having his tactics questioned by Roman Abramovich.
The final nail in the coffin for AVB came just two weeks later when Chelsea lost to West Bromwich Albion, leaving the side three points adrift of Arsenal who were in fourth place. The Portuguese was relieved of his duties after just eight months in charge.
AVB then went on to manage Tottenham Hotspur, but despite leading the team to their highest ever amount of points (which was largely thanks to Gareth Bale), they still finished a point adrift of the club’s top four target before they sold Bale for a record €100 million. Players such as Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen were signed to fill the void of Bale, but a poor run of form including a 6-0 loss to Manchester City and a 5-0 loss at home to Liverpool saw AVB relieved from his position with Spurs sitting in seventh.
Now coaching at Zenit Saint Petersburg in Russia, Andre Villas-Boas was a perfect example of how success in one league doesn’t necessarily mean success in the English Premier League.