Former Bridge defender reckons club's dread of being overtaken
by Manchester City and Tottenham got Villas-Boas the sack
Shaky ground: Villas-Boas and Alex during their brief
spell together at the Bridge
Roman Abramovich has been accused of being
panicked into sacking Andre Villas-Boas.
Chelsea's billionaire Russian owner was spooked into
the move by the rise of London rivals Tottenham and the growing
power of Manchester City, according to ex-Blues defender Alex.
Villas-Boas - ironically
appointed as Spurs boss earlier this month - was sacked in
March, less than a year after Abramovich triggered a £13million
release clause to sign him from Porto.
Now, Alex – who played for AVB at Stamford Bridge
before moving to Paris Saint-Germain in January – has revealed the
extent of the pressure the Portuguese was under in west London.
The centre-back said: “We [at PSG] certainly aren’t
under the same amount of pressure.
“Mr Abramovich never hesitated to show up and demand
more effort – there were several team meetings.
“We’ve met representatives of the owners, but the
relationship at PSG is definitely less intense.”
Although he slipped down the pecking order behind David
Luiz and then January signing Gary Cahill under Villas-Boas, Alex
believes Abramovich should have shown more patience with the
34-year-old.
He told Champions magazine: “Andre should have been
given more time.
“After all, the club spent a lot of money getting him
from Porto and needed to take into account that there was a new
manager with new players to settle in.
“Everybody [at Chelsea] was starting to look over their
shoulders because Manchester City had arrived in the top four and
Spurs were catching up.”
Fall guy: Abramovich feared dropping out of the Premier
League's top four
Villas-Boas’ predecessor at Chelsea was Carlo
Ancelotti, who Alex has since followed to PSG.
The Italian was also dismissed prematurely last year,
12 months after winning the Double at Stamford Bridge.
By contrast, Ancelotti retains the confidence of PSG's
Qatari owners, despite finishing second in the French League to
shock winners Montpellier, who have a far lower playing budget.
PSG have responded by splashing the cash to land
defender Thiago Silva and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, both from AC
Milan, for a total of £51m.
Alex went on: “A team needs at least two seasons to gel
properly and get itself into a position to challenge regularly for
trophies.
“When I joined PSG it was clear to me that we would not
start winning things overnight.
“It’s understandable that the arrival of the new owners
and all the media coverage the team was receiving could get people
overexcited.
“But the players were always aware that we are in the
process of building a foundation.”