AVB: Liverpool wanted me, Abramovich gave me the cold shoulder and Spurs didn't sack me

The Portuguese spent just eight months in charge at Stamford Bridge between June 2011 and Feb 2012, before being sacked after a poor run of results.

It was the first major set-back in the career of Villas-Boas, who was hired after an exceptional spell in charge of FC Porto. He subsequently endured a difficult spell at Tottenham, before rehabilitating his reputation with his current club, Zenit St Petersburg.

At the time, it was suggested that Villas-Boas had lost the support of senior players at Chelsea, but in an interview with Portuguese TV channel TVI, Villas-Boas says the main reason he struggled was Abramovich's attitude.

At the time, the Russian billionaire was fighting a court case against his mentor and compatriot Boris Berezovsky - the biggest private case in British legal history. The case began in 2011 and finished in Aug 2012.

Villas-Boas said: "Of course we never know what will happen and what I found at Chelsea was not what I wanted.

"I arrived at a difficult time in the private life of the chairman, who was rarely present. This clearly had an effect. Then I was surprised and I am still surprised that the chairman's intentions changed. When I went there the idea was to rebuild the team."

Villas-Boas also defended his record at Tottenham, saying his struggles at White Hart Lane were due to the club failing to secure any of the transfer targets he had identified in the wake of Luka Modric's move to Real Madrid.

He said: "Tottenham set a points and victories record in my first season, and missed out on the Champions League by one point and had a great run in the Europa League. In the second season, at the time I left we had more points than in the previous season.

"I ended up leaving by mutual agreement - it wasn't a sacking - because I gave full support to the football director Franco Baldini who meanwhile had other ambitions, meaning that I ended up with players that did not fit the profile I wanted.

"The chairman proposed a challenge to increase Tottenham's competitive level, but immediately Modric left and we didn't get any of the targets I had identified, such as João Moutinho, Willian, Óscar or Leandro Damião. These were promises that were not kept. I had a group of players I had not chosen."

Villas-Boas also claimed to have held talks with Liverpool before Brendan Rodgers was appointed as the club's manager, but harbours no desire to return to the Premier League imminently.

He added: "Returning to England is definitely not in my plans. I had talks with Liverpool, a club I admire a lot, but like I said it's not in my plans, although life takes many turns. I liked coaching in England, it was a positive experience, but negative things also happened."

Those comments have not sat well with Tottenham in particular , with the club swiftly hitting back at Villas-Boas' claims.

"It's unfortunate that Andre has felt the need to pass comments like these," a Spurs spokesperson told Press Association Sport.

"Not only has he attempted to rewrite history, he has clearly forgotten the facts."

Villas-Boas' claim that Modric's move to Real Madrid came as a shock are understood to have irked Tottenham, as has the way he portrayed Van der Vaart's return to Hamburg.

The Portugese is believed to have been key in the Netherlands international's departure, while the club deemed many of his targets as unrealistic acquisitions.