Yet again, a manager has left a club in the Premier League and been replaced. Normally these things are taken with a pinch of salt, especially when you don’t support the teams involved. However, I felt the need to go through the latest situation just to see how well Ferguson had done against the former managers of Chelsea Football Club.
No fewer than 15 managers have been confirmed by Chelsea since Ferguson took charge of United all those years ago in 1986. While certain managers were named as caretaker-managers, they all go into the record books as having managed Chelsea for one day at least – boosting the impressive list Sir Alex has seen off.But now there’s a new man to tackle, a new species for Ferguson to analyse and deal with. Andre Villas-Boas, the former Porto manager, is fresh off an unbeaten League winning season in Portugal, along with claiming a Europa League triumph in Dublin last month. Certainly no easy task, but I’m still unsure what Chelsea will be like for him, and being only 33 years of age, Ferguson, and even Wenger, will more than likely try their hand at knocking this ‘newbie’ down a peg or two – I won’t say no to that!
By looking at the stats I’ve researched below, it’s clear to see that Jose Mourinho was the biggest thorn in Chelsea colours sticking into Ferguson’s rear-end. Only once (in 90 minutes) did Sir Alex overcome the Portuguese ‘Special One’. Villas-Boas worked with Morinho in Portugal and even Sir Bobby Robson. Surely he’ll have picked up a few good traits and be eager to show the Premier League what he can do. Sir Alex has never crossed paths with the 33 year old before, and I get the feeling that he is just relishing the next game with Chelsea. I would give you a confirmed date for the next scheduled League game with Chelsea, but more than likely it will be adjusted to suit the ‘head-men’ at Sky – Provisional announcement says, United will play Chelsea on Saturday, 17th of September at Old Trafford! Oh boy!
But all those names who went before Villas-Boas. Hiddink, Ranieri, Vialli and more. Below, I’ve gone through the fixtures in which each manager played a competitive game against United and Ferguson, and excluding all extra-time and penalties, tried to source how well Fergie did against the London-club during the given managers stay.
Needless to say, there have been some flops in that list, and costly ones too. It begs the question, ‘Is it crazy to pay over £13m for a manager?’ That is what Villas-Boas cost and if you look below, he has a lot of catching up to do in England if he wants to be remembered in similar fashion to Ferguson. Sir Alex is simply storming ahead of all Chelsea managers in England, with Jose Mourinho leading the charge. Who’s to say Mourinho couldn’t add to that in the future?
Of course Ferguson has had the time to do it, and it will probably never again be repeated but you cannot argue with facts (Okay Rafa!). If trends were to repeat themselves, well Chelsea fans look away now because Boas would apparently win nothing. As seen above, triumphs have come in clusters of two managers, with Mourinho being a bit more stand out. Of course some of the names above were only in charge for a short space of time, but Ancelotti and Hiddink each have trophies, so surely the next shot will draw a blank.
From our sense, United shouldn’t fear this Villas-Boas fella. As Graeme Souness said on Sky Sports, ‘He’s coming from a League where Porto usually do very well. He won the Europa League, a competition which clubs in England don’t take much notice of.” I’m inclined to agree but you cannot judge him until around September or so.
Sir Alex will probably be a little happier to know that this new kid prefers a more attacking style of play so we could be seeing a more expansive Chelsea, and if that’s the case serious signings will need to be made otherwise they could be so vulnerable next season, they may struggle to challenge.
Really is wonderful to sit back and see clubs panic over managers but then it hits you that someday, hopefully a long time from now, United will find themselves in a similar position. Who could we be seeing then? I have my own ideas but I’ll leave that for another time.
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan