Villas-Boas ready for Spurs challenge

New Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas said he is a better coach now than he was at Chelsea.

And Villas-Boas is hoping he can use his experience to help his new club achieve more success.

The Portuguese coach was sacked by Chelsea in March after just nine months in the job, but he believes the event has made him a better manager.

Andre Villas Boas told the club’s official website: “The experience was extremely gratifying, not professionally in terms of success, but it was an experience that made me a better coach now than I was at Chelsea.

“I think as you go past different clubs and experiences you always get something out of them, it moulds you into the professional you are now.

“In that sense, I think I’m a much better professional now than I was before. In the end, you can never use the fact that things went wrong before to prove a point.

“I think my career has been steadily going up and I see this as a step forward. Based on that I want to commit myself to the fact that I was given this opportunity at such an important club and make sure I repay the confidence that was given to me to lead this club forward.”

The 34-year-old coach, who has taken over from Harry Redknapp on a three-year-deal, is confident Tottenham has the right foundations to push on and challenge for silverware, and that the distance to success is very short.

“I’ve been well received by the staff and it’s the right set-up and environment for us to go through what we want to achieve this season,” Villas-Boas said.

“Tottenham is a team of great tradition and one of teams that, at this moment, is aiming towards even more success.

“The distance we have to take to reach success is very short, thankfully because of the work that has been done in the past, which is quality work not only from the previous management, but also the chairman and his vision for the future.

“That is important as we build up solidly. We want to mix titles, winning ambitions and winning habits into Tottenham and make sure we bridge that difference and finally get it on the next years coming. We know we are able to win titles for the club.

“We know we are very near in terms of winning trophies. We go into four competitions next season and we go into them with the maximum ambition of trying to win them.

“I think taking this step is something very decisive, shows straight away our commitment towards winning titles and creates the right winning mentality towards the future to take the club forward.”

Villas-Boas will now lead Spurs on a pre-season tour of America before his first Premier League game as manager against Newcastle on August 18.

“This group of players has worked really well in the first two days. I’ve great first impressions because you can see the commitment is there and that’s what we want to bring into the season,” he said.

“They have been excellent professionals in the way they have put in the effort for us and the level of intensity has been very, very high.

“As we go to America, the players will arrive, we will continue to work with them try to achieve provide optimum fitness levels and optimum performance levels so we are ready for Newcastle.”