• Premier League

Cole urges Roman to be patient with Villas-Boas

ESPN staff
July 4, 2011
Andre Villas-Boas led the all-conquering Porto team last season © Getty Images
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Ashley Cole has called on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to give Andre Villas-Boas time to settle into the manager's role at Stamford Bridge.

Villas-Boas was last month named as replacement for Carlo Ancelotti, who was controversially sacked in May just 12 months after leading Chelsea to the Premier League and FA Cup double.

Although Villas-Boas, 33, completed a clean sweep of trophies at Porto last season, there are question marks over whether he has enough experience to lead Chelsea, where he served as an opposition scout under Jose Mourinho.

But Cole insists that all the Blues stars are firmly behind their new Portuguese leader. "It would be good to have a manager long term but that's down to the big boss upstairs," Cole said in the Sun. "If Mr Abramovich feels the need to change then he's going to do it. It's his club so it's up to him. He's the main man.

"It was amazing how thorough [Villas-Boas was as scout]. He would brief Jose on all the players we were facing to the point where we knew which foot they favoured, whether they liked to go inside or outside, preferred to cross deep or short, their stamina levels, the lot.

"People say they are surprised he's Chelsea manger because he's so young but since he left us he's won everything he could at Porto. We already know how enthusiastic he is so hopefully it will all come together and we can start winning trophies again."

Meanwhile, Cole has scotched suggestions that he could be set to join Real Madrid this summer. "Never even thought about it," he told Sky Sports News when asked about a potential move to the Spanish capital.

"I had issues before where I thought about it, but this season I have been fine, I have been on holiday so I have not read anything."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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