Chelsea sacking Jose Mourinho 'quite incredible'

Andre Villas-Boas has said it is "incredible" that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich sacked Jose Mourinho only seven months after win...

Andre Villas-Boas has said it is "incredible" that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich sacked Jose Mourinho only seven months after winning the Premier League title.

Mourinho left Stamford Bridge for the second time last month despite signing a new four-year contract in August, after presiding over a disastrous start to the season and what technical director Michael Emenalo described as "palpable discord" that had developed between the manager and his squad.

Andre Villas-Boas

Villas-Boas had a similar experience during his stint as Chelsea boss, having been dismissed by Abramovich just nine months into a three-year contract in March 2012 after clashing with powerful senior players at Stamford Bridge. Interim replacement and club legend Roberto Di Matteo led Chelsea to FA Cup and Champions League glory.

Of the nine coaches to work under Abramovich only Guus Hiddink -- who returned to Stamford Bridge for a second temporary spell in charge last month -- departed Chelsea by choice, and Villas-Boas insists Mourinho's spectacular demise highlights that no coach can hope to fare any better.

Villas-Boas, who was part of Mourinho's coaching staff during his first stint at Stamford Bridge, told beIN Sports: "The only thing that has been quite incredible to see is that [sacking] was applied to everybody. It was applied for their dearest coach and their most successful coach.

"So in the end, we have seen nothing different. Roman has sacked basically every coach he had and is no different -- it happened even to the best.

"The same criteria he applied to me, to Rafa Benitez and for all the other coaches, to [Carlo] Ancelotti and now he has applied to Jose as well. And it's [now] a new chapter."

Andre Villas-Boas was part of Jose Mourinho's coaching team at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan but the pair later fell out.

Chelsea will appoint a permanent successor to Mourinho in the summer and various reports have suggested that Pep Guardiola, Diego Simeone and Antonio Conte are at the top of Abramovich's list to take charge.

Villas-Boas, meanwhile, is currently at Zenit St Petersburg but announced in September that he would leave the Russian club at the end of the season.

The former Porto boss is keeping an open mind about his next destination but, after failed spells at Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, says he has no desire to return to the "circus" of the Premier League anytime soon.

"It's a chapter that I've tried and things didn't go well," he said. "By the time that I left Porto I had a few offers, and I probably chose the club that I shouldn't have gone to [Chelsea]. It's a bad experience and it's in the past.

"Tottenham I really enjoyed the first year, and by the time I left we had almost as many points as in the season before when we broke the points record. But these are things that people don't evaluate, only I know about.

"But it's the reality of football. The Premier League is a circus, it's constantly changing. It's full of emotion, ups and downs, unpredictability and this makes it the spectacle that it is. That chapter is gone for me and I'm looking for more stability right now."