csconstantine.com

 
Andre Villas Boas is on the brink of becoming Chelsea's new manager after tendering his resignation as Porto coach.

Porto confirmed the news to the CMVM (Portuguese stock market) following reports from the Lusa news agency that the 33-year-old quit via fax.

Villas-Boas will officially leave his position once the terms of his release clause, 15 million euros, are met by prospective employers, Chelsea.

The statement reads:

"Porto Football Club, under the terms of article 248, number 1 of the Securities Law, informs the market that Porto Football Club was today notified of the intention of its coach, Andre Villas Boas, to rescind, with no just cause, his sporting contract of employment with this company, activating the respective release clause, with immediate effect.

"Therefore, the employment contract will be considered, by this company, rescinded, with the deposit of the amount specified (in the release clause)."

Chelsea has been searching for a manager since relieving Carlo Ancelotti of his post at the end of the season after he failed to build on his double-winning first season at the club.

Villas-Boas won a treble in his first year of management at the club last season.

He managed to break multiple records in his short time there, including highest number of consecutive wins in the Portuguese league and the biggest margin of points over the second-placed team.

He became the youngest coach to ever win a European competition when he guided the Portuguese league champions to victory in the Europa League just over a month ago.

Prior to Porto, Villas-Boas was manager at Academica in Portugal for the 2009-10 season, which was the catalyst for being hired as Porto head coach.

The young Portuguese coach also worked with Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and Inter during his respective stints at the clubs.

Follow Goal.com on  to get the latest soccer news directly. Check out Goal.com's

Labels: Andre, Become, Chelsea, Goalcom, Manager, Porto, quits, VillasBoas

* Chief executive stands by approach to managers

* New team boss could be unveiled within a week

* Expansion, fresh revenue sought to balance books

By Martin Petty

BANGKOK, June 16 (Reuters) - Chelsea have defended the club’s rapid turnover of managers in recent years with the chief executive saying it was results that mattered and a new team boss could be named within a week.

Ron Gourlay told Reuters in an interview that the Premier League club’s hire-and-fire approach to managers—after going through four in as many years—had delivered the goods in terms of the number of trophies won.

“Continuity is very important but so is performance and results,” said Gourlay, who was in Bangkok on Thursday to promote the club’s pre-season Asian tour.

“Our model may not be the model others agree with but at the end of the day, we’ve taken the decisions we felt we needed to take to develop Chelsea Football Club… and we’ve won 10 major trophies in the last six years.”

Gourlay declined to comment on whether Turkey’s Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, was being lined up to replace sacked Italian Carlo Ancelotti but said several candidates had been looked at.

“The process of getting a new coach is going very, very well. I’d expect a new coach to hopefully be in place within the next week, maybe two weeks, but maybe even earlier,” he said.

BELT-TIGHTENING

Gourlay also said the club planned to tighten their belt and generate fresh revenue to comply with new UEFA finance rules.

He said Chelsea would have no problem adhering to new financial fair play regulations devised by European soccer’s governing body aimed at stopping clubs from borrowing vast sums to buy success and spending more than their income.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ANALYSIS on the financial fair play rules [ID:nLDE7581LB]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

Chelsea posted a loss of 71 million pounds ($114.8 million) in June last year and spent an equivalent amount in January on Spain striker Fernando Torres and Brazil defender David Luiz that was Arsenal manger Arsene Wenger said was “logic-defying”. [ID:nLDE7110YU]

Gourlay said the struggling Torres was a “fantastic signing” but Chelsea, like most clubs, must in future control spending and balance the books by nurturing more home-grown talent and generating new revenue sources without raising ticket prices.

UEFA’s new financial regulations will be applied from the reporting period starting at the end of next year.

“Performances on the field help drive a lot of the revenue off the field so you have to get the balance right, look at the costs, control wages going forward,” he said.

“Squads may not be as big as in the past and we have to get the youngsters through the academy and, when that happens, it takes a bit of the pressure off.”

GLOBAL FOOTPRINT

Part of the remedy was to expand Chelsea’s global footprint with Asia seen as a key market with huge growth potential.

The club was working hard to lure more Asian sponsors, raise Chelsea’s profile by launching more “Blue Pitch” development programmes, offering up the expertise of its coaches and sending youth and first-team squads to play in Asia.

He said the club was already active in Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong and planned to expand into Japan, South Korea and China, Gourlay added.

Hourlay described Chelsea’s failure to win a trophy last season after finishing nine points adrift of champions Manchester United as a huge disappointment, adding that the squad would be “freshened up” before the start of the new campaign though he would not be drawn on potential signings.

“Unfortunately, we just left ourselves at the end with too much to do,” he said of the title race.

“The expectation was so high after winning the double (in 2010), our most successful year, so it was a disappointing season but we need to remain very, very confident, the club must continue to develop, we must not change our strategy.”

Chelsea will play pre-season matches in Thailand, Hong Kong and Malaysia in late July.

(Editing by Ken Ferris; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: change, Chelsea, defend, Manager, regular, Reuters

The Perth side can realistically finish in the top six this season.

"We're on a budget similar to St Mirren and Hamilton," McInnes said. "Of course, we want top six, but there's got to be a realism.

"We're up against a lot of big clubs - Hibs, Dundee United, Motherwell, Aberdeen - to try and get into that next bracket."

With bottom club Hamilton 16 points behind St Johnstone, McInnes still believes his side need to consolidate their SPL status.

"The players will give everything they can to get as many points as we can to try and get there, but there's a few points to get, I feel, to make sure the SPL safety's there and I don't make any apologies for that.

"We need to work towards it - that's our first target."

Of the game against United, McInnes admitted the McDiarmid Park pitch made it difficult for either side to find fluency.

"It was a frustrating night for the players, both sets of players. It was difficult to get any pace or tempo on the surface," McInnes told BBC Scotland.

"There's no point in bleating and moaning about it.

"We're well aware of the difficulties of our pitch. We want nothing more to have a good surface."

McInnes says the Perth club aim to replace the pitch at the end of the season.

"The chairman's already indicated that, as soon as we can, towards the end of the season, the last game, we'll be ripping this pitch up and ready to start the work," McInnes said.

"We want to take pride in our surface. A lot of surfaces are suffering because the winter has run from the first real bad snap we had in the first week in November. We're now almost into March and we're still getting difficult conditions.

"The pitch has suffered and it's not got good enough drainage to try and cope with that and it's brought everything to a head.

McInnes was pleased with his side's defensive prowess against a United team he rates highly.

"The two teams showed each other a lot of respect," he said. "It's a good point. We wanted all three.

"The one area where we let ourselves down was that we had plenty of traffic in and around their box through set plays and the like and I don't think we took full advantage of it. Murray Davidson's had a good chance that's just gone by the post.

"I never felt we were going to lose a goal and that's a great feeling to have as a manager.

"The other side of it was, you want to make sure you try and carry more of a threat and I don't think either side showed enough quality in the last wee bit. But, as I say, I think there are factors in that."

Labels: Johnstone, Manager, McInnesaposs, priority, Sport, still, Survival

Monday night’s win has seen the east London club qualify for the quarter finals of the competition and Grant wants to see his team go further.

“Of course we can do it [win the FA Cup]," Grant told ESPN. "I think the players need to see for themselves, sometimes when you play football and you see our team playing – most of the games we’re playing good [football].

"In 60%-70% of the games we were better than the other teams. They see that we can do it and now we are more efficient. We are more stable, [have] less injuries, though we missed Matthew Upson today who is very good for us, and with Hitzlsperger and others coming back it is easier for us.

“Our first priority is the league, but it’s always good to get in the quarter final of the cup.

“We are coming in to every game wanting to win. In the cup we know one game [lost] and we’re out. In the league there is always the next game to make things better.

"That’s how we deal with the cup, that’s how we dealt with the Carling Cup and I think we had a good run there and now we want the same run in the FA Cup. If we win the next game we’re in the semi-final and it’s always good to be at Wembley."

Grant knew his side were going into the clash as the favourites to progress, but before the match he was sure not to write off his opponents.

He said: “We are a Premier League team and we need to win but it’s always a difficult game against this team. They are playing very well and I think they are good. In the second half we played very well so it was difficult for them.”

The West Ham boss also used the game as an indicator of his team being undeserving of their current league position, as the Hammers fight against relegation.

“I always said from the beginning of the season when everybody’s fit we have a good team to play football," he said. "Of course it’s not easy to deal with all these injuries, but I totally agree that with everybody fit we deserve more than this.

“Sometimes the players feel more relaxed when coming into cup games, in the league we are in the bottom, it’s not easy. We want to win every game – it doesn’t matter if it’s in the cup or in the league.”

Grant puts his team's recent increase in form down to key players returning from injury, including Thomas Hitzlsperger, who scored West Ham’s opener in his debut game.

He added: “It’s very important, if you saw [Hitzlsperger] play in the preparation games before the league you can understand why he’s such a good player. He can score from everywhere, [plays] good passes, [he is a] very, very intelligent player – he’s not the same like he was before but it’s only his first game. He is a player that’s very important.”

Tactically Grant’s team followed his instructions this evening and the manager hails his team for their efforts in the tie

He highlighted the Hammers’ passing as being a key component of their win, helping them to exploit a high Burnley back line who couldn’t match pace with the West Ham players.

Grant said: “We spoke about this because the line of the [Burnley] defence was too high. We passed the ball very well in the first half but not so many times forward. We did it in the second half and we scored good goals.

“That’s how we wanted to play today, with three midfielders that can go forwards and pass the ball – this is our way and they did well. I think the forwards played well, the movement was good, especially in the second half.”

Grant conceded that on occasion his job can be stressful, but pointed out that he wouldn’t have it any other way and is looking forward to the rest of the season.

The ex-Chelsea and Portsmouth boss said: “We can choose whether to be in this job or not to be in this. I prefer to be in this job. It’s always good to win, it’s not an easy season for us but it’s a good challenge.”

Labels: Avram, Goalcom, Grant, Manager

Having secured Bolton Wanderers' place in this tie with a second-half winner at Wigan on Wednesday, his first goal since October, Klasnic supplied the crucial strike again to take Bolton into the last eight of the FA Cup for the first time in six years.

Klasnic was arrested in October after a 17 year-old alleged she had been raped in a Manchester city centre apartment but the striker discovered last week that he would face no charges.

Owen Coyle, the Bolton manager, admitted that the allegations had upset the 30 year-old. He said: “We were delighted to be told there was no case to answer, which we always knew. But the thing about it is in terms of his fan base in Germany and Croatia. A lot of people looked up to Ivan and it was horrible for them to read that. He has tried to deal with it with a smile on his face but there is no doubting from a family perspective he felt that they were hurt more than anything. Hopefully we can see the best of Ivan in the run in.”

Klasnic claimed the winner in the 19th minute and while there was no denying Bolton their victory, the game was not helped by erratic refereeing from Stuart Attwell.

The official failed to take action in the first half when Moussa Dembele appeared to be the target for some heavy challenges, and Fulham manager Mark Hughes said: “I felt there were situations where he was saying he was playing the advantage but in and around the opposition box you don’t want the advantage, you want free-kicks and set plays, which we didn’t seem to get.

“There were a couple of situations where you think the referee needs to make a positive decision and just waving your hands and saying 'play on’ can be a cop-out. You’ve got to be able to be strong enough to make decisions when they are needed.”

Hughes should have been equally unhappy with his players for squandering enough chances to have at least earned a draw.

Bobby Zamora’s return, off the bench, five months since he broke a leg against Wolves, appeared to strengthen Fulham but they could not break down a resolute defence which has now kept five clean sheets in the last six games.

Bolton were without the Cup-tied Daniel Sturridge but still dominated and before the goal Stuart Holden wasted a chance when Fulham failed to clear Fabrice Muamba’s attempt and the ball fell to Chung-Yong Lee. Aaron Hughes and Brede Hangeland could not clear his cross and Klasnic responded with his second goal in five days.

Shortly before the interval Fulham threatened when Clint Dempsey’s raking shot flew wide of the left post and Andy Johnson saw an offering blocked by the Bolton defence.

Bolton could have sewn the tie up in the 65th minute when they counter-attacked with Martin Petrov attempting to feed Kevin Davies but Chris Baird made a timely intervention. Before the end Dempsey went close to securing an equaliser and the American should have done better with a late header, from Danny Murphy’s corner, which sailed over the crossbar.

Labels: Bolton, character, Coyle, Klasnicaposs, Manager, salutes, striker, Telegraphcouk

Labels: Arsenal, Comments, David, Everton, Fabregas, Goalcom, Manager, Midfielder, Moyes, Officials, Regarding, Slams