London: Andre Villas-Boas was fired by Chelsea after barely eight months in charge of the Premier League club on Sunday, leaving owner Roman Abramovich ruing his gamble on the inexperienced Portuguese and searching for his eighth manager in nine years.
A regular visitor at training recently, the Russian oligarch lost patience with the 34-year-old Villas-Boas after Chelsea's first loss to West Bromwich Albion since 1979 on Saturday left the club fifth in the league, with 46 points from 27 games, and out of the lucrative Champions League qualification places.
"Andre Villas-Boas has parted company with Chelsea," the club said in a statement. "The board would like to record our gratitude for his work and express our disappointment that the relationship has ended so early."
"Unfortunately the results and performances of the team have not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season."
First-team coach Roberto Di Matteo, a former Chelsea player and West Bromwich Albion manager, will take charge of the Blues until the end of a season that is in danger of becoming the worst since Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003.
"The club is still competing in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup, as well as challenging for a top-four spot in the Premier League, and we aim to remain as competitive as possible on all fronts," Chelsea said. "With that in mind, we felt our only option was to make a change at this time."
Villas-Boas has been under constant pressure since being hired in June on a three-year contract to replace Carlo Ancelotti, who was fired after failing to win a trophy last season despite a league and FA Cup double the previous year.
That change of managers cost Chelsea 28 million Pounds in compensation. Villas-Boas is likely to receive compensation after being fired with more than two years remaining on a contract reportedly worth 5 million Pounds annually.
Having repeatedly insisted he had the owner's full backing, Villas-Boas appeared to acknowledge his job was under threat after the 1-0 loss to West Brom left Chelsea with just three wins in the last 12 league matches and in danger of missing out on qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in the Abramovich era.
Amid reported unrest in the changing room, Villas-Boas struggled trying to bring younger players into the team while phasing out the older, big-earning stars such as midfielder Frank Lampard.
"He has had to take on a club there with a lot of senior pros in the background; probably had a very, very difficult job," Newcastle manager Alan Pardew said.
Villas-Boas' attempts to revive Chelsea's fortunes were not helped by Fernando Torres' woes in front of goal, with the Spain striker failing to score in 22 club games and counting.
"You don't get very much time these days and I genuinely couldn't be more disappointed," Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill said. "I feel for him."
Villas-Boas - the youngest manager in the league this season - had just two seasons of top-flight managerial experience behind him when he was hired by Chelsea last June on a three-year deal.
Winning four trophies with Porto last season had established him as one of Europe's most highly-rated coaches. He was dubbed by many as the 'Mini-Mourinho', after the current Real Madrid coach who has been one of the most successful managers in Europe in recent years.
Villas-Boas was a scout at Chelsea between 2004-07 under Mourinho, who won five major domestic trophies in that time.
However, Mourinho and his successors Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti always came up short in the Champions League.
Since Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003, the club has enjoyed a trophy-laden period that has harvested three English titles, three FA Cups and two League Cups.
But the Champions League is the competition Abramovich is said to be obsessed with and the Blues face another season of failure unless they can overturn a 3-1 loss to Napoli next week in the last-16.
On Friday, Villas-Boas insisted he would "never" quit Chelsea.
"Am I the right man for the job? Yes," he said. "I wouldn't have taken it if I didn't think that."
Di Matteo's first game in charge will be Tuesday's FA Cup fifth-round replay at Birmingham.
The departure of Villas-Boas, however, will do nothing to quieten fans' calls for Jose Mourinho to make a return to the club he led to back-to-back Premier League titles.
The self-anointed 'Special One', currently manager of La Liga leaders Real Madrid, has featured in British newspapers in recent days, with photographs showing him in London and reportedly looking for a new house.
Mourinho told reporters on Saturday that he would be visiting London again on Monday but declined to give any details, saying: "I don't have to explain my private life to anyone."
Villas-Boas had said this week that Mourniho's shadow hung over the club, while his relationship with players from his compatriot's golden era has also been under scrutiny.
Vice-captain Frank Lampard said last month that his relationship with Villas-Boas had "not been ideal" but the Portuguese had dismissed any notion of unrest, saying the only reason for an unhappy dressing room was their league position.
Major cracks, however, appeared this week when Villas-Boas said in an interview with Portugal's TSF radio that he was unsure if he still had the backing of Abramovich.
As if predicting what might be around the corner, he pointed to the owner's notorious lack of patience with managers who did not deliver silverware and in particular the coveted Champions League trophy.
"The pattern of behaviour of the owner has led to a downfall (of coaches) in similar situations or even 'better' situations," he said.
"What will be the reaction? It will be one of the two, a continuation of the project and full support or just the cultural pattern that has happened before."
Chelsea's managers under Abramovich:
Claudio Ranieri — September 15, 2000 to May 31, 2004
Jose Mourinho — June 2, 2004 to September 20, 2007
Avram Grant — September 21, 2007 to May 24, 2008
Luiz Felipe Scolari — June 11, 2008 to February 9, 2009
Guus Hiddink — February 11, 2009 to May 30, 2009
Carlo Ancelotti — June 1, 2009 to May 22, 2011
Andre Villas-Boas — June 22, 2011 to March 4, 2012
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