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Tottenham sack Andre Villas-Boas

By on December 16, 2013
Andre Villas-Boas has left Tottenham Hotspur "by mutual consent"

Andre Villas-Boas has left Tottenham Hotspur “by mutual consent”

Andre Villas-Boas has received the sack from Tottenham Hotspur after suffering the club’s worst home defeat in 16 years in a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Liverpool on Sunday.  The 36-year-old met with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy directly following the horrendous result, and although Villas-Boas insisted he would not resign the club released a statement following further talks which confirmed that Villas-Boas would be leaving White Hart Lane “by mutual consent” only eighteen months into his reign in North London.

The Portuguese manager was appointed as the replacement for Harry Redknapp Tottenham after being sacked by Chelsea near the end of the 2011/12 season with the ambition of leading Spurs into the Champions League, and nearly achieved his goal in Tottenham’s fifth place finish last season.  In fact, Villas-Boas’ reign at Tottenham featured a win percentage of 53.70%, higher than any other manager’s reign since the Premier League was established. Yet things began to go wrong when Gareth Bale finally made his predictable £85.3 million move to Real Madrid over the summer, a move in which Tottenham lost their previous match winner, best player, and top goalscorer all at once.  Although Tottenham attempted to make up for the loss of Bale by signing Christian Erikson, Erik Lamela, Paulinho, Roberto Soldado, Etienne Capoue, Nacer Chadli and Vlad Chiriches, and at the same time becoming the Premier League’s highest spending club last summer, the new arrivals hardly seemed to improve Tottenham’s chances of winning the league.

Tottenham only sit in seventh place, just five points away from a spot in the Champions League, but it was the extent of their losses which got Villas-Boas sacked.  The fact that the club has only scored 15 goals in 16 league matches so far this season underlines their poor form.  A dreadful 3-0 loss to West Ham United preceded a 6-0 loss to Manchester City, and after Tottenham’s 5-0 loss to Liverpool the Tottenham board of directors felt that under Villas-Boas the club hardly had a chance of Champions League qualification, and thus released a statement confirming the manager’s sacking.

“The club can announce that agreement has been reached with head coach Andre Villas-Boas for the termination of his services,” a statement released on Spurs’ official website read.

“The decision was by mutual consent and in the interests of all parties.”

Tottenham also confirmed that Villas-Boas backroom staff, including Jose Mario Rocha, Luis Martins and Daniel Sousa have also left the club.

Meanwhile, technical co-ordinator Tim Sherwood has been put in charge as a caretaker until a replacement is appointed, and will at least continue in the role for Tottenham’s Capital One Cup tie against West Ham on Wednesday.  Fabio Capello has been identified as the leading candidate to take over at White Hart Lane after Michael Laudrup revealed he is comfortable in his position at Swansea City, while former England manager Glenn Hoddle is reportedly interested in the position, according to the BBC.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.