For Chelsea fans, this is another case of ‘here we go again’.
The Chelsea international manager merry-go-round continued Tuesday after Roman went all guns blazing after the man who has been managing the national team of his birth. Despite all the media reports of Avram Grant, Frank Rijkaard, even the team of Giofranco Zola and Steve Clarke…it’s going to be Guus Hiddink that’ll be taking over at Chelsea for the rest of the season.
This isn’t the first time Hiddink has done the duel role. While leading PSV Eindhoven to the Eredivisie title with a 26-6-2 mark and into the round of 16 in the Champions League, he was guiding Australia into the world cup with five wins and one loss. Now it should be said that during this time Australia was in the Oceanic region of FIFA and it can be debated that the only real test he had was their World Cup playoff series with Uruguay.
Since taking over with Russia it can be said he has led a revolution of Russian Football. However it must be said that Russia back doored into Euro 2008 after England had Steve McClaren at the helm. Right now Russia isn’t exactly sitting pretty in World Cup qualifying. They won’t be passing Germany for top spot in the group and at present are tied with Wales on points for second. The two qualifiers they have between now and the end of the Premier League season are their March 28th home tie against Azerbaijan and their April 1st clash against Liechtenstein. Let’s face it, these should be two easy wins and I’m sure if they were playing Germany in this time period, Hiddink is not taking the job.
1.5 million pounds guaranteed is alot of dosh to be paying out for what is in effect three and a half months of work, but hey it’s Roman’s money and it seems right now he wants someone he is safe with guiding Chelsea through to the rest of the season. That’s all fine and dandy, but right now Chelsea’s dressing room is a divided place to be in and there are some pretty big rifts that are going to take time to heal.
In a move that wasn’t planned out at all, this isn’t exactly sensible either. However Hiddink has been a club manager in Europe and has been under this same type of pressure. If this move was going to happen, it should have happened before the end of the January transfer window.
Getting to the end of this season is obviously Roman’s short term goal right now. Hiddink will be gone from Stamford Bridge in May and Chelsea can attempt to get Ancelotti. All Hiddink has to do is make sure Chelsea make the Champions League next season, and make deep runs in the Champions League and FA Cup. Those are lofty goals and I still don’t know the last two are all that attainable. Hiddink has the squad to get the job done, however this one is on the players. Will they rise up to the challenge like they did while Avram Grant was there, or will they continue to be the same players who have done nothing for the past two months but collect paychecks?
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Joe Kinnear maybe having to leave another management job due to heart problems. Doctors have told Kinnear he needs to have emergency bypass surgery. We may not
like him, but I wish him all the best in getting through this difficult period.
Thanks to the Daily Mail for our most worthless stat of the day. 932 managers have come and gone in England since Sir Alex started at Manchester United. Fergie mind you has no plans to retire anytime soon.
The Premier League is now talking to consider using player quotas similar to those used in the Champions League and UEFA Cup. Boy they must be scared of spending controls being used because this came up out of no where.
And another rule that may get experimentation is bringing in sin-bins for yellow card offenders.
Theo Walcott thinks he will be ready for Arsenal when they travel to Rome in the Champions League.
The London 2012 organizers say football or rugby can forget playing at the Olympic Stadium once the the 2012 games come and go.
Manchester City have severed all ties with former owner Thaksin Shinawatra. It took em long enough.
And Rafa Benitez feels that Aston Villa are right in the thick of the title race.
That is a mind boggling statistic regarding the number of managers who have been and gone since Ferguson started at Old Trafford.Having said that if he is still there in 5 years time it will be old Alex at Old Trafford!
I did watch the Australia Italy game in the World Cup and Hiddink had the Aussies punching way above their normal weight.In fact I would go as far as to say that they actually had the better of Italy on that day and were extremely unlucky to go out with a dodgy penalty decision right at the end.
The burning question really is who’s turn is it after Hiddink??????????????????????????
P.S.I am not a biassed Aussie!I am a Chelsea fan and this is not pretty,good luck Gus you are probably gonna need it
Why does the reporter feel it necessary to counter any complimentry commentary about Hiddink with ít must be said’and ít should be said’ neagative remarks why didn’t he go the whole hog and finish with a great big ‘having said that …….” followed by a complete contradiction of the whole piece lol!!!