Andre Villas-Boas’ struggles at Chelsea overlooked by Tottenham

Over the past few weeks we have seen a number of events that begs the question – why is football so full of historical revisionists?

Unqualified success story Harry Redknapp has been thrown onto the scrapheap by Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, Chelsea flop Andre Villas-Boas welcomed by Spurs fans in his place, and Robin van Persie widely condemned for refusing to sign a new contract at Arsenal.

Villas-Boas arrived at Chelsea after an unbelievable season at Porto – Roman Abramovich paid £13m for his services and he was meant to take the Blues forward in the long-term.

The rest is history as the Portuguese coach alienated the fans and media, and oversaw Chelsea’s worst start to a season in the Abramovich era.

He was a disaster and did not last beyond March. Yet, less than four months later, he is in the hot-seat at White Hart Lane and many Spurs fans, who no doubt derived pleasure from Chelsea’s troubles at the hands of the 34-year-old, now welcome him with open arms.

Suddenly he is the young, progressive manager to take Spurs forward, his Chelsea failure brushed over and blamed on a lack of player support. He’s the man to develop players at their new training ground.

The revolutionists forget that his expensive squad failed to finish in the top four, even once he left, and aim baseless accusations that Redknapp had taken Spurs as far as he could.

The facts are that Redknapp was Spurs’ most successful manager in two decades – he got Spurs playing some of the best football in the Premier League, developed Gareth Bale and delivered unforgettable nights such as beating Internazionale 3-1 in the Champions League.

Despite all this, Redknapp has been downgraded to a short-term fix which went too well, a man who will always be held back by his tactical limitations and, after an unprecedented two fourth-place finishes in three years, had run his course at White Hart Lane.

Finally Van Persie, who scored 41 goals for club and country last season and was named PFA Player of the Year, has released an ill-judged statement announcing he won’t be signing a new contract.

It was widely suspected that the Dutchman may seek pastures new for a different club challenge or see his wages increase, but since this statement, Van Persie is now the villain of the piece and has been widely condemned.

Football fans are too quick to skew the facts to fit their current agendas and are therefore willing to alter a player or manger’s legacy.

Let’s hope that in a few years, the revisionism will come full circle and the facts will be used to judge how successful or otherwise a player or manager was.

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