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Andre Villas-Boas was a candidate for Burnley manager's job after Owen Coyle went to Bolton Wanderers

Andre Villas-Boas’s managerial career in England almost began at Burnley instead of Chelsea, a new book has revealed.

Burnley's former chief executive Paul Fletcher says Andre Villas-Boas was a candidate for the manager's job at the club
In demand: Andre Villas-Boas could have filled the hot seat at Burnley rather than going to Porto, Chelsea and now Tottenham Credit: Photo: AFP

The 34-year-old Portuguese is seeking his first victory at Tottenham after his Stamford Bridge tenure lasted just nine months. Yet Burnley could have appointed him after Owen Coyle left in January 2010 to take over at Bolton. Villas-Boas, then in charge of Academica in his homeland, gave a hi-tech presentation.

In his soon to be released book Magical: A Life In Football, former Burnley chief executive Paul Fletcher wrote: “Mickey Walsh, an old playing colleague of mine, got in touch with me to describe Andre as being a real up and coming hot prospect.

“He sent a very detailed and lengthy application for the job. His CV and Powerpoint presentation were amazing. Even by today’s standards there was some complicated stuff in it, with some things that I didn’t understand.

“Tommy Docherty used to say he never said anything to his players his milkman wouldn’t understand. I don’t think any milkman would fathom the meaning of a lot of Andre’s presentation.

"The language and jargon of football gets worse by the day. Villas-Boas uses a lot of it. Would Burnley players have ever understood what he wanted if he’d told them to 'solidificate’ or some of his other terms?

"It’s a fascinating thought, one of the many ‘ifs’ in football. If Andre Villas-Boas had been manager of Burnley’s Premiership team; would he have saved the season? With hindsight, we might have appointed him, but at the time it would just have been too big a risk.”

Brian Laws got the job but failed to save Burnley from relegation.