Chelsea insider says Andre Villas-Boas sent ruthless message to Didier Drogba and tried to 'ostracise' Frank Lampard

06/29/2024 06:59 AM

Jason Cundy has lifted the lid on Andre Villas-Boas’ ‘strange’ time at Chelsea after witnessing it first-hand.

The Portuguese boss got the Chelsea job in the summer of 2011 and was thought to be the ‘next Jose Mourinho’ after joining from Porto, as well as serving on his coaching staff during the ‘Special One’s’ first spell at Stamford Bridge.

Villas-Boas lasted less than a season though, with his man-management skills called into question in the years that have followed.

John Terry claimed that Villas-Boas lost the dressing room as early as pre-season when making the Blues’ senior stars fly economy class to Hong Kong.

Those claims were backed up by Jon-Obi Mikel, who said that Villas-Boas tried to assert himself in the wrong way, leading to a fall-out with the club’s senior stars.

One man who knows exactly what Villas-Boas was like at Stamford Bridge is ex-Chelsea man Jason Cundy, who says that the young Portuguese boss ‘annoyed a lot of people’ in west London.

Speaking on talkSPORT Drive, Cundy said: "I was still doing work for Chelsea TV at the time and I would be down the training ground doing some shows down there – strange boy, AVB, mate. Strange man.

"I always got the feeling that he felt he didn't trust anyone.

"I would see him and do stuff with him post-match after games and then I'd see him down at the training ground and he'd ignore you."

Asked why he'd do that, Cundy said: "I don't know.

"Anyway, as I found out later, he told Didier Drogba that his time at Chelsea was up and that he was finished.

"He told Frank Lampard [the same] – he almost tried to ostracise Frank Lampard and Didier.

"They won the Champions League that year. It was a very strange time that year."

Andy Goldstein then asked why he was asked to get rid of them, to which Cundy replied: "I don't know. The squad has to move on, but he wasn't the man for that job at that time.

"Roberto Di Matteo came in after him and went completely the opposite way around. He and Eddie Newton put their arms around the players, got them back onside.

"AVB made some really, really bizarre calls. It was Napoli away and he left Essien or Lampard on the bench and he got sacked after losing 3-1.

"We came back and we beat them under Di Matteo. We came back and won the FA Cup and the Champions League that season.

"Di Matteo – credit to him – he knew he had to get these big dogs onside because he needed them.

"It's about massaging egos but AVB did the complete opposite. There were some strong characters in that dressing room at the time and he annoyed a lot of people."