LONDON — New Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas accepted that comparisons with Jose Mourinho were inevitable but attempted to move away from his former mentor as he outlined his vision for the London club, Sky Sports reported Thursday.
Villas-Boas, 33, worked under Mourinho during his Chelsea reign before following the same route to the top job at Stamford Bridge by guiding Porto to European and domestic glory.
But while Mourinho, now the Real Madrid coach, arrived in England in 2005 declaring himself to be “the special one,” Villas-Boas ignored a fanfare entrance and instead emphasized the strength of a democratic, collective approach.
The Portuguese coach promised to foster a team ethic at the 2010 English Premier League (EPL) champion, which paid a reported release fee of $21.3 million (£13.3 million) for his services after finalizing a three-year deal Wednesday.
“The main important thing that people have to reflect on is that I don’t see the game as a one-man show — I see the game as the getting together of ideas and collective ideas and good players,” he told the club’s official website.
While he will attempt to bring in new players, Villas-Boas said the nucleus of the squad inherited from Carlo Ancelotti would remain the same.
“I think it is something that is normal for any club to have a look into the market, but it is also normal to respect the things we have and the quality of players we have,” he said. “So there will be no radical changes. We need to absorb things, respect our winning past and try to focus on 2011-12 as a year when we can continue to win.”
Villas-Boas, who became the youngest EPL manager by four years, was only 17 when he gained his first UEFA management license. He then worked under former England manager Bobby Robson and Mourinho at Porto and remained part of Mourinho’s backroom team when he left for Chelsea then Inter Milan.
But he said those steps were not part of a career master plan inspired by Mourinho.
“Coaching was not a kind of obsession and neither did I use Jose as the way to arrive into this path,” he said. “It was something that happened naturally. I think there is no way you can avoid comparison. It is something that is the interest of the media.”
Villas-Boas added, “I didn’t take the Porto job nor the Chelsea job because Jose made the same steps. They are two of the most sought-after clubs in the world, and in the end, I had the opportunity and was able to make them find something in me that they thought would continue their route to success.”
