Only heard of him today. Was never a player and has only been managing for about two years, worked with Bobby Robson and Jose Mourinho.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/may/17/andre-villas-boas-porto-europa-league The Portuguese has no professional playing career behind him and was first encouraged into coaching by Bobby Robson in the mid-1990s after writing to the then Porto manager to urge him to select a striker, Domingos, more regularly. Robson was suitably impressed to employ the youngster in his scouting department. Domingos Paciência will confront Villas Boas in the dugout on Wednesday evening as manager of Braga.
Mourinho used him as an opposition assessor at Porto, Chelsea and Internazionale before the pair parted, a fracture born of Villas Boas's desire to make his own mark and "risk" life as a manager in his own right. He arrived at Académica de Coimbra in October 2009 with the club winless and anchored to the bottom of the Primeira Liga. They recovered to finish 11th in the 16-team division and were narrowly beaten in the domestic cup semi-final by Porto. Yet the victors that day had recognised the young man's quality and hired him as a replacement for Jesualdo Ferreira last June.
The statistics alone generated by his first campaign at the Estádio do Dragão are mind-boggling. Porto reclaimed their domestic title on 3 April, with five rounds of matches still to play. At one stage they won 16 league matches in a row, with their final tally – 27 wins and three draws – the stuff of dreams. This club has obliterated all-comers. Braga finished a respectable fourth, but they were a distant 38 points away.
Comments
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/may/17/andre-villas-boas-porto-europa-league
The Portuguese has no professional playing career behind him and was
first encouraged into coaching by Bobby Robson in the mid-1990s after
writing to the then Porto manager to urge him to select a striker,
Domingos, more regularly. Robson was suitably impressed to employ the
youngster in his scouting department. Domingos Paciência will confront
Villas Boas in the dugout on Wednesday evening as manager of Braga.
Mourinho
used him as an opposition assessor at Porto, Chelsea and Internazionale
before the pair parted, a fracture born of Villas Boas's desire to make
his own mark and "risk" life as a manager in his own right. He arrived
at Académica de Coimbra in October 2009 with the club winless and
anchored to the bottom of the Primeira Liga. They recovered to finish
11th in the 16-team division and were narrowly beaten in the domestic
cup semi-final by Porto. Yet the victors that day had recognised the
young man's quality and hired him as a replacement for Jesualdo Ferreira
last June.
The statistics alone generated by his first campaign
at the Estádio do Dragão are mind-boggling. Porto reclaimed their
domestic title on 3 April, with five rounds of matches still to play. At
one stage they won 16 league matches in a row, with their final tally –
27 wins and three draws – the stuff of dreams. This club has
obliterated all-comers. Braga finished a respectable fourth, but they
were a distant 38 points away.