Chelsea confirm inevitable Villas-Boas departure

Chelsea have today confirmed that Andre Villas-Boas has been sacked as manager of the club with immediate effect. It was coming, wasn’t it?

The Blues have been on a horrendous run of form of late and the writing had been on the wall for the hunkering Portuguese before yesterday’s defeat to West Brom at the Hawthorns. That proved to be the final straw for owner Roman Abramovich, who has never hesitated in pulling the plug on a series of Chelsea managers in the past.

Villas-Boas had been under pressure for some time and seemed to suffer for his apparently troublesome relationship with a group of senior Chelsea players such as Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Ashley Cole, a group who wield serious influence in the dressing room and have undermined previous Chelsea managers in the past.

The club confirmed Villas-Boas’ departure in a statement released on their website today which read: “Andre Villa-Boas has parted company with Chelsea Football Club today.

“The board would like to record our gratitude for his work and express our disappointment that the relationship has ended so early.

“Unfortunately the results and performances of the team have not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season.

“The club is still competing in the latter stages of the Uefa Champions League and the FA Cup, as well as challenging for a top-four spot in the Premier League, and we aim to remain as competitive as possible on all fronts.

“With that in mind we felt our only option was to make a change at this time.

“With immediate effect Roberto Di Matteo has been appointed first team coach on an interim basis until the end of the season.”

Although Di Matteo will be in the dugout until the end of the season, attention will immediately turn to the identity of Villas-Boas’ successor, with reports suggesting that ex-Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has already been sounded out.

Managing a club with such a high profile and with such lucrative financial rewards will obviously be attractive to some, but the role of Chelsea boss has been something of a poisoned chalice in the Abramovich era and there are some who might opt to steer clear of West London as a result.