Villas-Boas says he wanted more responsibility under Chelsea boss Mourinho.
Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas has revealed his ambition forced him to part ways with Jose Mourinho ahead of the duo’s first meeting as managers – dubbed master versus apprentice.
Villas-Boas worked under Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan before parting ways with the ‘Special One’ in 2009 to take his first managerial job at Portuguese side Academica.
Mourinho is now in his second spell at Stamford Bridge and the 50-year-old’s Chelsea side travel to White Hart Lane to face Villas-Boas’ high-flying Spurs side on Saturday.
Villas-Boas, 35, says his relationship with the former Real Madrid boss was excellent but has revealed he left to pursue his dreams of being a manager.
“My relationship [with Mourinho], professionally and personally, was excellent as you can imagine because we worked for so many years together,” said Villas-Boas.
“Our break-up point was because I was full of ambition to give him something extra and I wanted further involvement than the job I was doing at that time, which was scouting and match preparation.
“I felt I could give him much more, so my initial idea was to keep on working with him. But he didn’t feel the need for somebody near to him or in another position as an assistant, and because of that it was decided that it was time, after Inter Milan, to continue our careers [apart].
“I don’t think there’s anything to prove [this weekend]. Jose’s career speaks for itself and I’m very proud of what I’ve done so far and what I’ve achieved. I hope on the day that I quit that I’m able to look at it in the same way.
“Do we still have a relationship? We talked at the Premier League managers’ meeting when we were there at the start of August, but not since then.”
After admitting Mourinho has had a major influence on his career, Villas-Boas insists he is his own man.
“I think there is always an influence because, when you’ve worked so closely together for seven years, you learn methods that not only brought Jose so much success but you want to get to know those methods and apply them as well,” said Villas-Boas. “There are probably lots of things in my organisation I do similarly to him, of course.
“The professional relationship was outstanding, but then you always want to put your mark into the things that you do.
“My first job was very difficult, it was a completely different reality to the one that I had with him [Mourinho] at Inter Milan, Chelsea and Porto because I went to manage the bottom team in the league at that time.
“Everything changes – the way you handle the players, the objectives, fighting for survival in the league rather than fighting for trophies, so all that requires a different leader and a different person. There are things that I applied and things that I didn’t.”
COMMENTS