How Andre Villas-Boas compares to Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and more great managers
Andre Villas-Boas has become the youngest manager ever to win a European trophy after guiding Porto to the Europa League at just 33 years old. In his first full season of management, he has already won the Portuguese title without losing a game, as well as the Portuguese Super Cup (Portuguese Community Shield) and has the Portuguese Cup final coming up.
Will Villas-Boas go on to become one of the great managers, like his mentors Jose Mourinho and Sir Bobby Robson? talkSPORT looks at what the giants of football management had achieved by the time they were 33…
SIR Alex Ferguson: SIXTH PLACE WITH ST MIRREN IN DIVISION TWO
At the age of 33 Sir Alex Ferguson was already in his second job as a manager, but his early success was a little more modest than that of Andre Villas-Boas. A former striker at Rangers, Ferguson took his first job in management at little East Stirlingshire, where he was employed part-time on £40-a-week (although there was nothing part-time about the way Fergie did the job). He lasted just 117 days at Firs Park, taking the club up to fourth in the second tier, before St Mirren came calling. So, at the age of 33, Fergie found himself guiding St Mirren into a vital sixth place in the old Scottish Second Division, which was just enough to ensure they remained in the second tier when Scottish football was restructured at the end of the 1974/75 season. A good start, but not necessarily indicative of the spectacular success to follow.
Arsene Wenger: YOUTH COACH AT STRASBOURG
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had yet to take charge of a senior side by the time he turned 33. Despite winning the French title as a player with Strasbourg in 1979, Wenger only made a handful of appearances and turned to coaching the club's youth team at the age of 32. He left his youth post at Strasbourg two years later to become assistant manager at Cannes (the club, not the film festival).
JOSE MOURINHO: BOBBY ROBSON'S ASSISTANT/TRANSLATOR
Like Andre Villas-Boas, at the age of 33 Jose Mourinho was at Porto. In Mourinho's case, he was 'merely' a coaching assistant and translator for Sir Bobby Robson in 1996, experiencing a second successive Portuguese title win that was capped off with a 5-0 thrashing of rivals Benfica. That summer Mourinho left Porto with Robson to work for Barcelona, where they won the European Cup Winners' Cup and the Spanish Cup in 1996/97. Yes, Mourinho winning trophies with Barca!
Kenny Dalglish: TREBLE-WINNER
Despite winning a League and Cup double as a young player/manager, at the age of 33 Kenny Dalglish was still just a player. We say 'just', but what a player Dalglish was back in 1984, forming a deadly partnership with Ian Rush as Liverpool won the first treble in English football of European Cup, League and League Cup. One year later he would take the helm at Anfield in tragic circumstances, following the resignation of Joe Fagan after the Heysel Stadium disaster.
Carlo Ancelotti: RETIRES UNBEATEN
Ancelotti had only just retired from playing at the age of 33, bowing out with a Serie A medal at AC Milan after a remarkable unbeaten season for the club. It was an unhappy exit from the San Siro for Ancelotti, however, after Milan boss Fabio Capello failed to give him a run out in the final game of the season despite the title having been wrapped up already. A three-year break from the game followed, in which he worked on his coaching qualifications before taking a job at second division Reggiana at the age of 36.
PEP GUARDIOLA: QATAR HERO
The Barcelona boss became the youngest ever Champions League-winning manager when he won the trophy in 2009, aged 38, but he was still playing at the age of 33. His best days were behind him, however, and he found himself playing in the Qatar Stars League for Al-Ahly Doha. Three years later he was back at Barcelona coaching the B team. He hasn't done too badly since.
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