Andre Villas-Boas Disappointing, Leaves Chelsea In Bad Position - We Ain’t Got No History

Andre Villas-Boas is a young manager who cost Chelsea FC a lot of money. Like Luiz Felipe Scolari and Carlo Ancelotti before him, he was sacked very quickly. Between Chelsea's recent managerial carousel, Villas-Boas' youth and the expense of both hiring him and firing Ancelotti, many will see his sacking as an impatient knee-jerk decision.

This might be the case. It's quite possible that bad luck and a squad that isn't good enough have quite a bit more to do with Chelsea's struggles than any manager, but there's no denying that their position is a bad one. Despite their high expectations and extensive spending, they are in fifth place. Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, despite much lower levels of net spending in recent years, are ahead of Chelsea with most of the season gone. As Chelsea FC blog We Ain't Got No History writes, Villas-Boas' record was very poor. Money aside, he didn't do much to earn a right to stay in a job.

Villas-Boas came with impeccable credentials, but his reign went downhill early on and never really got any better. Losses to Aston Villa, Queens Park Rangers, and most recently West Bromwich Albion made the situation completely untenable, and he becomes the latest victim of the axeman.

This will be portrayed as yet another move in the Chelsea managerial carousel, and whether or not that's fair is a matter of some debate. What isn't is his record with the Blues - Villas-Boas, having breezed to a triple in Portugal with Porto last season, has made a right meal with it in the Premier League, leaving the club in worse position that the reviled [Luiz] Felipe Scolari.

Nine months ago, I was convinced that Villas-Boas was the right man for the job. His tactical acumen was beyond dispute, his players loved him, and he'd worked with Chelsea before. I was probably wrong.