BRIAN CLOUGH famously lasted just 44 days at Leeds but, as he went on to prove, that did not make him a bad manager.
Who is to say that Andre Villas-Boas cannot do likewise and show his time at Chelsea was just a blip?
I’m not saying he’s going to turn Tottenham into European champions like Clough did with Nottingham Forest, just that his time in charge at Stamford Bridge need not define him as a manager.
I do see similarities between Villas-Boas’ time at Chelsea and Clough’s Elland Road stint.
Both had impressed in their previous jobs before moving on to a bigger challenge.
The pair tried to stamp their authority on dressing rooms where there were some well-established players who had already achieved considerable success.
It didn’t work out for either of them but it doesn’t mean that they should never get a chance in the dugout again.
I see some good managers like Alan Curbishley, Glenn Hoddle, Peter Reid and Billy Davies out of work and I can’t understand why someone won’t give them a chance.
Maybe their agents aren’t as busy as they could be because there are other managers who, almost as soon as they’ve lost one job, fall into another — even if they’ve no track record to speak of.
I’m not including AVB in that bracket as he achieved both domestic and European honours with Porto, so he’s clearly got something.
Look at it from Tottenham’s point of a view. A year ago, Chelsea thought nothing of paying out £13.3million in compensation to bring AVB in from Portugal.
Spurs got him for nothing. And while things may have gone badly at their London rivals, his CV prior to that makes for good reading.
I’m sure he has learned from his mistakes at Chelsea.
Trying to ease out senior pros like Frank Lampard was always going to be hard when they had a couple of years left on their contract.
Chelsea’s old guard are probably more influential than they might be at other clubs, similar to the likes of Johnny Giles, Norman Hunter and Billy Bremner were at Leeds.
OK, Rafael van der Vaart might not be afraid to speak his mind but I’m not sure the senior pros hold as much sway at White Hart Lane.
Already, William Gallas has been released, so some of the more difficult decisions have been taken before AVB officially starts work.
They’ve got Gareth Bale on a new contract which is great news for them. It remains to be seen if they can keep Emmanuel Adebayor — who was an important player for them — after his loan ran out.
It might suit AVB that Spurs like to bring in younger players with a resale value because, often, they’re more willing to listen and learn.
One difficulty AVB had at Chelsea was that he had been there before as a scout under Jose Mourinho and, if that is how the players view you, it can be hard to shake that image.
He won’t have that problem at Tottenham but the pressure will be on him to perform from the start. He’s got to hit the ground running.
On the day he was let go by Spurs, Harry Redknapp said they could be realistic title contenders within a couple of years. I don’t believe that for a second.
The likes of Manchester United and Manchester City are far too strong and you could see Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all spending big money in a bid to try and bridge the gap to the top two.
Are Spurs really prepared to splash out to close that gap? I doubt it.
But he will be asked to improve on what Harry did and that is no mean feat. Remember, they were bottom of the table when Harry took over and they finished eighth that year. Since then, they have finished fourth, fifth and fourth again.
They would have qualified for next season’s Champions League had Chelsea not beaten Bayern Munich on penalties in May’s final.
I know the Champions League is the Holy Grail for them because of the financial rewards — but they shouldn’t knock the importance of winning the FA Cup or League Cup if they can.
It’s not the first time Spurs have taken the foreign route.
We all remember Christian Gross with his Tube ticket. Neither him, Jacques Santini nor Juande Ramos worked out.
But Martin Jol did and I’d like to think AVB could too. I’m sure it hurt him to see Chelsea win both the Champions League and the FA Cup when the players had simply not performed for him.
That will make him a wounded animal, eager to give a better account of himself, much like Clough was when he took charge of Forest back in 1975.
