Andre Villas-Boas says Roman Abramovich broke promises when he decided to call a premature end to their Chelsea project last season.
Villas-Boas unhappy that he was not given more time at Chelsea
Andre Villas-Boas says Roman Abramovich broke promises when he decided to call a premature end to their Chelsea project last season.
Villas-Boas was sacked as Blues manager in early March, just eight months into a three-year deal after leaving Porto to take charge at Stamford Bridge last summer.
The Blues were outside the top four of the Premier League at the time but, under the guidance of then interim coach Roberto Di Matteo, enjoyed a superb end to the season to win the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup.
Villas-Boas, now back in English football with Tottenham Hotspur, believes he laid the foundations for those Chelsea triumphs and is still unhappy that he did not have the opportunity to see the job through.
"I respect the decision of the owner of Chelsea, but I will never accept it," Villas-Boas said as he held his first media conference at Tottenham's new multi-million training complex in Enfield.
"I told him that for me it was him quitting on me when he had been so much involved in the beginning in bringing me in and he was the one also who was not putting up to the things he promised."
The Spurs boss continued: "It is all very well that you cut the project short and Chelsea go on to win two trophies and you say how wonderful the squad was, but at the beginning nobody believed in that squad when we put it together.
"It was a tremendous learning experience which I am grateful in some ways to have gone through it because it makes me a better coach and a better person at this time.
Evolve
"But the decision to cut it short was not mine and for Chelsea to have won the Champions League and to have won the FA Cup was because we were still in those competitions.
"I had the opportunity to win them cut short and I had cut short the opportunity to qualify for the Champions League when I was just three points off the fourth position, this is what I recall from the day when I was sacked."
Villas-Boas hopes to use the experience he gained across London to help Tottenham push on from what they achieved under Harry Redknapp, having being criticised for some of his man-management at Chelsea.
"I am not a guy who is able to criticise anyone in public, but I am not a guy who promotes individuals in public," he said.
"I understand now that certain things can be done better and in the end you evolve in different ways.
"Hopefully I can apply the different things I have learned properly.
"Hopefully I can build on from what Harry left me with, pushing towards even more ambition."
