SAINTS legend Terry Paine has accused the sacked Andre Villas-Boas of suffering a “spectacular humiliation”.

Villas-Boas was dismissed the day after Spurs had been thrashed 5-0 at home by Liverpool last Sunday.

A failure to re-invest the many millions banked from selling ex-Saint Gareth Bale on quality replacements, and two heavy defeats, ultimately cost the Portuguese his job.

“The chance to right the wrongs was never afforded to him, as has become a trademark of the modern game,” said current Saints president Paine.

“Had he been afforded the time, there was very little he would have done differently, and herein lies his flaws.

“It is all well and good standing steadfastly behind your beliefs, but when those beliefs hinder progression, they become a blueprint for failure rather than success.

“The £100 million spent on new signings was always going to ramp up the pressure, on both manager and players.

“They had sold Elvis to sign the Beatles, and AVB had to get them playing.

“It’s something that, at the time of his sacking, he had failed to do.”

Spurs enter Sunday’s game at Saints boasting one of the Premier League’s worst scoring records, with just 15 in 16 games.”

Though they possessed a great defensive record early season, they were thrashed 6-0 at Manchester City last month before losing heavily to Liverpool as well.

Writing in his weekly column in The Sports Pink this weekend, Paine added: “It was the style of play and the inability to alter things that became synonymous with his downfall.

“A ludicrously high defensive-line was exposed over and over, as it had been at the Etihad.

“His insistence on inverted wingers did nothing to aid Roberto Soldado in the midst of his goal drought. And with full-backs playing as auxiliary wingers, the flaws were there for all to see.”

Paine summed up: “In the end he stood, almost defiantly in the persistent rain, as all around him crumbled and the boos rang out.

“Managers had endured similar humiliations before, and will again, but few have done so as spectacularly as Andre Villas-Boas.”