‘I came across my first Tottenham interview and I’m speaking about titles!’: Andre Villas-Boas admits his attempts to bring silverware to Spurs were futile… and hints that the bar for success is still set too high at north London club
- Andre Villas-Boas took over as Tottenham Hotspur manager in July 2012
- The Portuguese head coach has opened up about his spell at White Hart Lane
- He admits that his relationship with Daniel Levy was not strong during his stay
Andre Villas-Boas has admitted his goals of achieving silverware with Tottenham were overly ambitious, and has suggested that is still the case for the north London club eight years after his departure.
Villas-Boas was handed the head coach role at White Hart Lane in 2012, and achieved relative success, earning Spurs their highest ever Premier League points total during his first full season in charge.
The Portuguese head coach had arrived amid talk of ending the club’s trophy drought, however, he failed to do so – leaving just 17 months after arriving.
Andre Villas-Boas has admitted the notion of winning titles at Tottenham is fanciful
And looking back in hindsight, the 43-year-old admits his goals were perhaps on the lofty side.
‘I’ve always set myself high objectives. That goes back to what I said before about my plan for a short career, so whenever I accept something I throw myself into achieving objectives that are harder to get and probably put myself under more pressure than I should,’ he told The Athletic.
‘At Chelsea and Porto there is obvious pressure to win, and Zenit the same. But the other day, by chance, I came across my first Tottenham interview and I’m speaking about titles!
‘Titles which are still lacking (for Spurs) but are what everybody wants and you arrive and you set that bar high because that is what the fans want.’
The Portuguese manager turned up at White Hart Lane in 2012 promising to challenge
Villas-Boas also opened up about his relationship with Daniel Levy. Spurs are currently struggling to secure a new manager following the departure of Jose Mourinho last season.
And the former Porto and Marseille boss has spoken of his own difficulties when negotiating with the Spurs chairman.
After turning down the chance to join PSG in the summer of 2013, Villas-Boas revealed how their relationship went south.
The ex-Porto head coach led Spurs to their highest ever points finish in the Premier League
‘I understood Tottenham wanted me to go to Paris,’ Villas-Boas revealed. ‘I had an offer from Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season. But I said, “No”.
‘So I didn’t have the best of relationships with Daniel. We were correct throughout but we were not in love with each other and I think they wanted me to accept the offer.
‘I have a different vision of football and, for me, whenever somebody declines something that’s normally better — be it contract-wise or the possibility of you winning — for me, you are entitled to a contract renewal. That’s how I see things. It wasn’t the case. And that led to a bad, bad animosity between us.’
Villas-Boas also revealed that he did not enjoy the best of relationships with Daniel Levy