Villas-Boas may 'provoke' Blues

Andre Villas-Boas will consider showing his Chelsea players images of Manchester United celebrating their Barclays Premier League title success to motivate them to regain their crown.

Villas-Boas used a similar tactic after taking charge of Porto a year ago, making his squad watch a video of Benfica's championship party. And the new Chelsea boss would not rule out something similar when the Blues players report back for pre-season training on Wednesday.

"We just need, as technical staff, to make the right moves," Villas-Boas said. "Maybe a United photo, an Arsenal photo, to show they've been successful."

Villas-Boas admitted United were the benchmark and urged Chelsea to reclaim the mantle they held under Jose Mourinho, Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti.

"United are a reference - they're pretty clear," he said.

"A big, successful club, as this club was when Jose, Carlo and Guus were here. That's the challenge we face next season.

"If we are going to provoke them in that way, that's for our technical staff to decide."

As well as motivating from the outside, Villas-Boas will need his players to motivate each other, and he sees captain John Terry as integral to that aim.

Terry has been accused in the past of being too strong an influence but Villas-Boas said: "Most of the players in the dressing room see John as a leader and a player who motivates them.

"There are lots of leaders in the dressing room. If John is in the team, he will be the captain. He represents the history of this club, the successful history of this club in the last six or seven years."