Andre Villas-Boas admits his insistence he is at Chelsea for the long haul would carry more weight if publicly backed by the club’s hierarchy.

Blues boss Villas-Boas was once again bombarded by questions about his future on Monday evening ahead of Tuesday night’s Champions League last-16 clash at Napoli.

The 34-year-old reiterated he was confident Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich would not sack him should he fail to reach the quarter-finals and that his three-year project to revamp the squad had the Russian billionaire’s “full” backing.

Villas-Boas claimed on Thursday he did not want a vote of confidence from Abramovich, joking that would mean “the end”.

But he suggested on Monday night he was beginning to sound like a broken record in his claims of unequivocal backing and it might be better if someone at the top explained they were finally going to allow a manager to see things through.

In front of watching chairman Bruce Buck and chief executive Ron Gourlay, Villas-Boas said: “You have to understand that this club, from 2004 up to now, has made a dramatic change for the best in terms of their past.

“It’s the richest part of Chelsea’s history, full of trophies and success, and you want to perpetuate that into the future.

“To do that, you have to sometimes make changes because you cannot sustain the same habits that you had in 2004, when this environment and team was created to make a winning team.

“These words would be more valuable coming from the top. I cannot keep saying them but, as the voice of the club, I will continue to perpetuate this message because this is what we believe in.”

Villas-Boas, who has overseen what is the club’s worst season of the Abramovich era, admitted speculation over his future was inevitable based on the Russian’s previous habit of firing managers.

He said: “In terms of the results this year, the speculation is normal given the cultural past of this football club, but you have to understand that there’s a different perspective now.”

The Portuguese said: “I’m really confident about next year.

“That doesn’t take any responsibility for what’s happening now, but we had a three-year project to change not only the team, but the culture and structure of the club.

“There’s a lot we needed to do, a lot of plans, so that’s why I’m excited about the future. Having said that, we have to build a team to win trophies from the start.

“With that in mind, the fact that we’re no longer in the Carling Cup and don’t have a chance to win the (Barclays Premier League) title is a shame.

“But we are still confident we can do well in the Champions League and the FA Cup.”

Standing in their way in Europe are Napoli and the Italian side’s boss Walter Mazzarri has ordered his side to think like underdogs, claiming only a “perfect” performance would beat Villas-Boas’s men.

“Tomorrow, we will face a team, Chelsea, who have played more than 100 Champions League matches,” he said.

“We are proud to play this match but I don’t want to hear anyone saying we are the favourite for this game.

“We can find a result only if we play a great match.

“All the team has to play not only a special game, but the perfect game.”

Mazzarri was banned from the tie for pushing Villarreal forward Nilmar during Napoli’s final group game in December.

Assistant Nicolo Frustalupi will deputise, with the Italians having won all their previous games when he has done so.

Mazzarri said: “Nicolo Frustalupi is probably better than me as tactical coach and I’m sure that he will be a perfect coach tomorrow.”

Napoli boast one of the most feared attacking trios in Europe in Edinson Cavani, Marek Hamsik and Ezequiel Lavezzi.

The latter is the only one of them yet to score in the Champions League – something he was planning to change on Tuesday.

“I really hope so – it would be pretty nice to score my first Champions League goal against a team like Chelsea,” he said.