Avram Grant admits he was not surprised by Andre Villas-Boas' sacking at Chelsea, insisting only results will keep a manager in the job.
Ex-Blues boss feels Villas-Boas lacked experience
Avram Grant admits he was not surprised by Andre Villas-Boas' sacking at Chelsea, insisting only results will keep a manager in the job at Stamford Bridge.
The Portuguese boss was shown the door after just over eight months in charge of the Blues on Sunday following his side's defeat at West Brom the day before.
Grant managed Chelsea for most of the 2007/08 season but was sacked after his first term in charge, despite leading them to their first UEFA Champions League final, which they lost to Manchester United on penalties.
Results
The Israeli knows first-hand that a manager will not last long under the Blues' billionaire owner Roman Abramovich if they do not deliver consistent results.
"It's sad news. I always like a bit more patience but we could expect this, no?" he told
Sky Sports News.
"When you come to Chelsea you know one thing - that you need to bring results or to show that the team is going the right way.
"I don't know what happened at Chelsea from the inside but some managers before have been sacked at Chelsea and it's all about results.
"In this case, without knowing what's happened inside, the results were not so good and the football was not so good."
Grant feels a lack of experience could have cost 34-year-old Villas-Boas, who led Porto to an unprecedented Treble before arriving at Stamford Bridge.
"I think Andre Villas-Boas knows football and he did very well at Porto," he added.
"But when you come to a club like Chelsea you need to deal not only with football but with other issues and you need to deal with problems in different ways.
"It's a club that's spent a lot of money to achieve the best so every time you are losing games there are some problems about this. I think in this case he was lacking a little bit of experience but I'm sure he'll succeed at the end of the day because he knows football."
Speculation of dressing room unrest surrounded Chelsea ahead of Villas-Boas' sacking, with older players such as Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole thought to be unimpressed with being left out of the manager's plans for important games.
Age
Much has been made of the Blues' ageing squad but Grant believes they still have the quality to win trophies.
"I know that everybody is speaking about age, of course Chelsea need to think about it," he said.
"But remember when Milan took the last Champions League there were many players who were more than 30 and they used their experience very well.
"I think the squad is good enough to do good things. They've got a lot of money, many good players. They can achieve good things."
