Andre Villas-Boas accuses Daniel Levy of ‘extravagant leadership’ as he reveals reason for leaving Tottenham Hotspur

Andre Villas-Boas was speaking on the Keys & Gray Podcast (h/t Mirror) where he lifted the lid on his relationship with Daniel Levy during his time at Tottenham Hotspur, and why he ultimately decided to leave.

The Portuguese was one of the most exciting managers in world football when he took over the Tottenham job after leaving Chelsea. But that love affair just lasted 17 months until he was let go by the club in December 2013.

Villas-Boas revealed that things were good between him and Daniel Levy during his first season. But the cracks started to appear when he wanted to stay at N17 while the Spurs chairman wanted to sell him to PSG for £50m.

Andre Villas-Boas said his relationship with Daniel Levy was spoiled at Tottenham Hotspur because of PSG transfer links.

Hence, the second year started with ‘bad animosity’ between the two as Levy did not want to renew Villas-Boas’ contract at Spurs. And all of this, according to the former Zenit St. Petersburg boss, led to a hostile work environment that drove him to leave the club.

“…the environment was not there anymore, the connection with me and Daniel and Franco Baldini, so it was also time to go.”

The former Spurs boss added that all of this could be put down to Levy’s ‘extravagant leadership’ and scoffed at how these ‘business people’ wanted to set up everything at the club without respect for what is around them.

Andre Villas-Boas managed Tottenham Hotspur for 17 months. (imago Images)

“It all has to do with this extravagant leadership to take control of the clubs. And we saw in the Super League, with the failure of the Super League, the impact of these extravagant ideas. Basically, it’s people who are business people who want to set up their business without any respect for what is around, which is emotions and love.”

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The 43-year-old joined Zenit after his stint at Spurs and later managed in China and France. He is currently without a club, having last managed Olympique Marseille, while Tottenham are currently without a permanent manager since sacking Villas-Boas’ mentor, Jose Mourinho.