Villas-Boas backed for Chelsea long-haul

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck believes Andre Villas-Boas could follow Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal in becoming a long-term Premier League manager. Villas-Boas, 33, is only in his third season of full-time club management and has already declared he only sees himself in the profession for between 10 and 15 years. Buck hopes that time will be spent at the Blues. "We do envy Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in terms of longevity, but it shouldn't be longevity for longevity's sake," said Buck. "It has to be the right guy in the job for 10 or 15 years and, in light of Andre's age, he may well be that guy." Villas-Boas is the seventh boss of the eight-year Roman Abramovich era at Stamford Bridge, but Buck believes the Russian billionaire is already impressed by the former Porto boss. "There's a real excitement, a buzz. The players seem happy, they're jumping around. It's just a really good feeling," said the chairman. "We feel he's got excellent man-management skills, he's a very creative guy, he's a very organised guy, he's getting along well with our players. "You were all questioning in the spring how a 33-year-old manager could deal with a 31-year-old player. The answer is he can deal with him very well. "The board is happy, the fans are happy, and - I guess most importantly - Mr Abramovich is happy."