Stepping out from the shadow of the Special One

SOCCER:THE MOST appealing account of how André Villas Boas got started on his already remarkable career in coaching has him writing, in his mid-teens, to then Porto manager Bobby Robson to complain that one of the club's strikers, "Domingos", was being unfairly overlooked by the Englishman during his first season at the club

Robson, it is said, put it up to the kid who would one day succeed him to set out a more detailed case and was so impressed by what he got back he gave him a part-time role in the famous club’s youth team set up.

The best part about this version of events is that “Domingos” is now better known by his full name, Domingos Paciência, and he is the coach of Braga. Tomorrow night the two men will go head to head at the Aviva Stadium in a Europa League final that seems likely to mark just another step on the path to bigger things for both of them.

Given his own side’s achievements in recent times, it came as no great surprise then when Paciência announced last week he would be moving on after this game. The identity of his next employers is not known yet but many expect there to be an opening over the summer at the club where he spent the best part of a fine playing career.

Villa Boas, it is felt, might well move on also, with some of the biggest British and Italian clubs rumoured to be considering taking a punt on the man who has, entirely unsurprisingly, been dubbed the new Mourinho.

Just 33, the young manager’s rise has, if anything, been even more meteoric than that of the now Real Madrid boss. The widely acknowledged facts of the Robson story are the Englishman was so impressed by his encounters with the youngster, whose family lived in the same apartment block, that he arranged for him to study for his coaching badges in Scotland and England.

He was given work with Porto but quickly showed he could find some for himself by getting appointed as the national team coach of the Virgin Islands when barely 20. The fairytale doesn’t extend to the team’s results being suddenly transformed but his description of a particularly poor outing by Bermuda – in which Shaun Goater scored five times – as “a bad defeat but still an unbelievable experience for a guy so young”, gives a sense of his desire to soak up absolutely everything.

His employers, it turned out, were not even aware of how young he was and he only told them as he left to take up the offer of a new job back at home from Mourinho, who had himself started a spectacularly successful stint in charge of Porto.

Villa Boas, who like his mentor has never played professionally, was given the job of researching opponents, he was to be the manager’s “eyes and ears” as Mourinho put it, and he proved so good at it that when “the Special One” was hired by Chelsea and then Internazionale, the younger man was brought along as part of the package.

He settled well back in England, helped by the fluent command of the language he had gained as a child as a result of having a grandmother from Cheadle, near Stockport. Interviewed early on in his Chelsea career he observed: “It takes me four days to put an entire file together but it is very comprehensive.”

From fairly early on he admitted his “ultimate dream” was to some day be “totally in charge of my own team”. He got his chance in October, 2009, when Academica de Coimbra, winless and already adrift at the bottom of the table, took a chance on him. He guided them to 11th in the 16-team table, well clear of relegation and, perhaps, more importantly, to the semi-final of the cup, a match his side only narrowly lost to a Porto side that, almost unthinkably, was on course for a lowly third-place finish.

Within weeks, having coached his way through just 23 league games, he had replaced Jesualdo Ferreira at Porto and set about stamping his authority on things by moving established stars like Bruno Alves and Raul Meireles out in order to reshape the team.

A matter of months later, Porto are league champions again, having won the title five games before the end of the campaign with a 2-1 win at the home of arch-rivals Benfica and, in the process, became the first team in almost 40 years to get through a Portuguese campaign unbeaten.

The cup final still awaits them this weekend.

There are echoes of Mourinho’s style both on and off the pitch but there are enough differences too for it to be clear Villas Boas is very much his own man.

He is said, indeed, to bristle somewhat at the endless comparisons but they just might be worth enduring for a while longer if he can continue to emulate the Real Madrid’s manager’s remarkable success.

Andre Villas Boas Fact File

Full name: Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas

Born: In Porto on October 17th, 1977.

Family: Married to Joana Teixeira. They have two daughters.

Playing career: Spells in his youth with Ramaldense FC and Clube Marechal Gomes da Costa (both amateur).

Coaching career: 2000/01 – British Virgin Islands; 2001/2009– On coaching staff at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan. 2009/10 – Academica de Coimbra. 2010 to date – Porto.

Honours: 2010 Portuguese Super Cup, 2011 League.