Andre Villas-Boas lifts the lid on backstabbing culture at Chelsea with digs at Roberto Di Matteo and Ashley Cole - as former Blues boss gives verdict on John Terry plane story

Former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has opened up on an awkward dynamic at the Blues that saw the club endure somewhat of a backstabbing culture during and after his time in charge.

Villas-Boas, 48, spent eight months at the helm of Chelsea between June 2011 and February 2012, before his assistant, Roberto Di Matteo, took over and won the Champions League in the same season.

His time in charge saw his side struggle in a battle to reach the top four in the Premier League, while a defeat by Napoli in the Champions League saw the Blues board begin to lose faith after he dropped some of the team's key players.

Things got better rapidly for Chelsea when the Portuguese left his role, with Di Matteo leading them to the Champions League title, though they only finished sixth in the Premier League.

Though things ended on a sour note. Speaking on the Obi One Podcast, Villas-Boas has explained how he felt betrayed by Di Matteo, the man he had brought in to be his assistant, after he took his role.

He said on the podcast: 'For me, it was very very difficult to see Roberto take the job. It was something I felt dearly because I was the one who chose him. Chelsea wanted a different person, particularly Marina Granovskaia (director) and Roman (Abramovich, owner).

Andres Villas-Boas has opened up on a backstabbing culture at Chelsea while he was in charge of the club

He said he was 'disappointed' by the nature of his assistant, Roberto Di Matteo (left), taking his job when he was sacked

'They chose him for the football style at West Brom. For me, I told him this, for me not to have known he was given the job was something I wasn't expecting from him.'

When asked to clarify whether Di Matteo had told him about him getting the job, he replied: 'No. I don't know if Chelsea hierarchy had something planned and it ended up a different way because of the results he was getting, but it is what it is. Football is a dynamic environment, it changes from fixture to fixture, and it is what it is. I think that was probably the biggest disappointment.'

Then-Blues captain John Terry had previously spoken about a story on a pre-season trip when Villas-Boas supposedly opted to put academy players in first-class instead of first team stars.

Terry claimed in 2024 in a previously untold story that Villas-Boas made a controversial decision ahead of a pre-season tour of Asia which turned senior players including himself, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba against him.

'We've got Josh McEachran, Nathaniel Chalobah, a couple of other young players all in first class,' Terry told up front with Simon Jordan. 'And this was part of AVB going "no player is bigger than me, everyone's the same."

'It turns out Lamps is flying out in first class and I'm flying back in first class. So if you fly out in first, you come back in economy, but basically it wasn't good enough.'

Villas-Boas, though, has hit back, implying that there was reason for his decision – and that the story isn't totally true.

'First of all, we are speaking first class or business class, not economy,' he said. 'I have seen the story, it is good you point it out to me, this is me as a principle human being, setting out the rules.

Villas-Boas gave his side of the story after John Terry revealed how he led a mutiny against the boss during pre-season

Terry was furious with the seating arrangements put in place by Villas-Boas (second front) for Chelsea's flight to Malaysia in 2011

'We only had a few free in first class, we couldn't fit all the first team players, you would have to make a selection between say Cech, Drogba, Terry, Lampard, then leave out the rest of the boys. The principle was that - instead of creating a problem, let's put the academy boys here and send the rest of them to business class.

'I don't remember John coming to me saying it might have been an issue, I don't remember them changing. That was the principle, instead of putting the top guns... we had enough for the captains which was a good excuse, we tested all of the different criteria, appearances, years for the club, the principle was the big guns got together.

'I see it completely different, John sees it the other way round. I think it had zero influence on pre-season because we were excellent and started the season well. It probably has something to do with my principal way of doing, my stubbornness at some stage, or not overseeing the big picture, the big prima donnas. I am not sure if I would do it differently now.'

Terry was adamant that he and the other senior stars would not have allowed the plane to take off with them on it, and admitted Villas-Boas 'failed instantly' to make a positive first impression.

'This is one of his first things in front of everyone,' Terry continued. 'In the end, it spun. First team players go first, younger players go economy. That's how it should be. These younger players are striving to be where we've got, and he tried to make a statement.

'He came in and he failed instantly, because I promise you the plane wasn't going. If it was going, it would have gone without myself, Frank and Didier.'

Villas-Boas revealed he once clashed with Ashley Cole, too, due to his actions during a 'crisis meeting' before the Napoli game.

'One of the crisis meetings before Napoli, I asked the guys to give a reflection of the moment,' he said. 'The guys are speaking, we go one by one. I am putting notes on the board, for example players saying we train too much before the day of the game. We don't train enough. I am taking notes that relate to me.

Villas-Boas detailed how he clashed with Ashley Cole because he tried to 'make a fool out of me in front of everyone'

'Frank (Lampard) made a good point that they were not satisfied with their own performance. We reach Ashley Cole and he speaks about the team then says boss, when you put the team out, my arrow doesn't go past the midfield like. I always went deep so why does it stop at half-way?

'Before the Napoli game, I called Frank because he was not playing, and I called Ashley. I told Ashley he is trying to make a fool out of me in front of everyone which I cannot accept, so you are out the team. You took a crisis meeting and a group meeting into something you think is funny, so you are out.

'(Jose) Bosingwa played at left back, two minutes, Bosingwa is injured, we look at each other... this is incredible.'

Villas-Boas would go on to credit the players and Di Matteo for winning the Champions League, insisting he had no role to play in that success rather than signing the player in the summer.