Chelsea FC chairman Bruce Buck has admitted that current 33 year old manager Andre Villas-Boas could still be in charge at the Stamford Bridge club in ten to fifteen years, emulating that of Manchester United and Arsenal with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger respectively.
Sir Alex Ferguson first joined Manchester United in 1986 and has been at the helm for 25 years whilst Wenger, who joined the North London club ten years later, is celebrating 15 years in charge of the side.
Whilst Villas-Boas is only just 33, Buck believes this to be a positive and that there is no real need to necessarily use an older manager all of the time.
“It has to be the right guy in the job for 10 or 15 years and, in light of Andre’s age, he may well be that guy. Everyone thinks his age might have been a negative but it’s a positive.”
Chelsea have done well so far under the former Porto manager losing just the once against Manchester United at Old Trafford where a host of missed chances could well have meant the result going the West London side’s way, and Buck praises Villas-Boas’ ability to blend with the players and his good organisational skills.
“He has really been able to relate to the players. He is a very organised guy who really understands football.”
Buck does however admit his concerns regarding the transfer market and that too much money has been spent by Chelsea in that area of the past few years, something he believes should change soon as they look to bring more youngsters through from the academy set up.
“The problem has been transfer fees paid to other clubs for new players and that’s probably our biggest expense, the way we’ve tried to attack that, not as successfully as we’d have liked to be honest, is by putting a lot of money into the academy.”
“The maths is pretty simple. If you can bring a player or two through the academy, every couple of years, then you’re saving £10m, £20m, £30m of transfer fees.”
Whilst the academy is certainly the way forward, especially when you see what the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United have produced over the years, one man – Roman Abramovich – will still need informing of this approach and should certainly be made aware that spending behind the scenes is not the answer to the future of the club.