Roman Abramovich must let Andre Villas-Boas finish his mission

The dismissals in recent years of Luiz Felipe Scolari, Avram Grant and - above all - Carlo Ancelotti may have been harsh but this would fall into a new category because Villas-Boas arrived last summer with a specific mission upon which he has barely started.

He outlined it yesterday: "We had a three-year project to change not only the team but the culture and structure of the club." Had? Let's read no significance into the tense. And, while we're at it, set aside the aspiration to emulate the Arsenal revolution of the late 1990s.

Villas-Boas came to conduct the necessary dismantling of a great side. A three-year project could not have featured key functions for Drogba, 34 next month, and Frank Lampard, 33, while John Terry and Ashley Cole, each 31, would have to be monitored.

It was a burden but Villas-Boas shouldered it, reshaping with imaginative roles for Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge. Now he needs a summer in the market.

No doubt Villas-Boas envies Sir Alex Ferguson, whose relationship with Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes has enabled them to scale down both gracefully and effectively at Manchester United but Abramovich could hardly be expected to understand such a "culture"; if he did, he would have changed managers less frequently since the regrettable split with Jose Mourinho in 2007.

Win, lose or draw tonight, the Chelsea owner faces a test. But one less difficult than it might seem. Although sticking with Villas-Boas might prove both turbulent and expensive, the job was always going to involve those drawbacks, whoever did it.
No wonder Guus Hiddink demurred. Villas-Boas has the will; let him find a way.