After a long journey filled with flashbacks and night-sweats, we’ve finally completed our Chelsea Chronicle Worst XI lineup. Now, all we need is a man brave or foolish enough to take charge of these aces. We had a few names in mind and each one of them possesses a rare combination of both the aforementioned traits. Let’s see how they fared.
- Andre Villas-Boas (55%)
- Luiz Felipe Scolari (25%)
- Rafael Benitez (10%)
- Avram Grant (9%)
Winning by a landslide, Andre Villas-Boas is the people’s choice to lead our Worst XI. Let’s find out, in fewer words than AVB would use to describe himself, about the prodigal son who returned and almost burnt down the farm.
Before The Blues
Villas-Boas had two separate spells at Chelsea in different capacities. The first time around, he was an opposition scout under Jose Mourinho. A bright and vocal presence with a great knack for tactical analysis, it was inevitable that he would move on to a more challenging role. Villas-Boas bagged his first managerial assignment with Academica in Portugal, where he saved them from almost certain relegation. He was hired by Porto on the back of this achievement, where his star shone brighter still. Villas-Boas emulated another great Portuguese manager by winning the Europa League and went one better by going an entire season unbeaten. Surely, the next step was to win the Champions League with Porto.
The Chelsea Years
Alas, Chelsea thought if Villas-Boas was to win the Champions League next, it ought to be with them. A record compensation fee was paid to Porto to buy out AVB’s contract. From a distance, it looked like a good investment. Here was an exciting, young manager who’d already experienced success in Europe, looking to take the next step and here was a club who could provide him the financial resources to do so. A swift union was declared, but the marriage didn’t last long. Villas-Boas allowed the exuberance of his youth to run roughshod over millionaire footballers’ carefully maintained egos. It didn’t help that some of his tactical decisions were simply unsuited to the personnel at his disposal, leading to a series of high-profile defeats. Run-ins with old hands in the dressing room soon followed, which saw veterans such as Lampard, Cole, and Essien benched in a crucial Champions League knockout game. The straw that broke the camel’s back was Chelsea dropping out of the top four with only a handful of games left to save the season. In March 2012, AVB followed the well-trodden path out of Stamford Bridge with a healthy bank account and his P45 in hand.
Present Day
After being forced out of Chelsea, Villas-Boas was welcomed by Spurs looking for a manager to lead them into the Champions League. That didn’t happen, although they got mighty close. AVB then moved to Russia and won a league title with Zenit Saint Petersburg. After the expiry of his contract, the Portuguese, still only 39, moved to China to claim his share of the riches at Shanghai SIPG whom he has led to second place in the league with 23 games played.
And so it ends. The Chelsea Chronicle Worst XI has democratically elected eleven players and one manager over the course of several weeks of voting. Let’s have one final look at the lineup in all its glory.
