“He went about it the wrong way” - Mikel explains how ex-Chelsea boss Andre Villas Boas entered feud with John Terry and lost dressing room
Chelsea legend John Obi Mikel has explained how Andre Villas Boas lost the dressing room at the club. The Portuguese manager famously got into a feud with club legend John Terry.
Terry recently revealed that Villas Boas asked the squad to fly economy during a trip to Hong Kong. The team refused to do so. Mikel has now explained what went wrong for Villas Boas.
Villas Boas worked as an assistant for Jose Mourinho earlier in his career. Mikel has claimed that the manager wanted to establish a same sort of authority at the club. However, he went about it in a wrong way. Mikel said (via talkSPORT):
"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."
Mikel added:
"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've to respect me'."
Mikel concluded:
"He went about it totally, totally the wrong way."
Mikel also claimed that in a club like Chelsea, players will protest if a manager comes in and tries to establish his authority in such a way. That's what turned out to be one of the main reasons for Villas Boas' failure.
Andre Villas Boas' Chelsea stint
Andre Villas Boas joined Chelsea after a successful stint at Porto. However, he was in charge of the Blues for only 40 matches. Villas Boas lost 20 of those games, drew 10, and lost 10.
He managed clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, Zenit St. Petersburg, and Olympique de Marseille as well. He is currently Porto's president.
After Villas Boas' dismissal during the 2011-12 season, his assistant Roberto Di Matteo was appointed as the interim boss until the end of the season. Di Matteo led the Blues to the FA Cup title and their first ever UEFA Champions League trophy that season.