Too Late For Chelsea?

Guus Hiddink today pledged to push Man Utd "to the bitter end" in the Premier League this season, and has said he is looking for Champions League glory too.

Hiddink has undoubtedly had a good start to his Chelsea career, they have won four out of four in the league and are just four points off of leader Man Utd, and seem to have staved off Aston Villa and Arsenal. When Hiddink arrived Chelsea were fourth, and slipping.

Chelsea may have left it too late to mount a challenge now, but in fairness they are as capable of Man Utd and Liverpool of seeing out their remaining games unbeaten.

I think that Hiddink is a fantastically talented coach, but I think a case can be made that Chelsea made a mistake in appointing him. I admit, that might sound a bit weird; and that case is only, if he is not staying past the summer. Chelsea are a huge club, but ask Chelsea fans what is needed for success and most will give you two lists. The first one of players that need to move on and second one of transfer targets. A long term managerial successor is what Chelsea require, and one that knows how he wants to see the club play, and the players that can deliver that. By appointing Hiddink as a stop-gap the Chelsea Board and Roman Abramovich may harbour hopes that he will stay on and then miss out on a high quality coach, and his subsequent transfer targets as a result.

The worst thing that could happen is for the Chelsea Board to decide which players are staying and which are coming in. That has never worked for English clubs, and Chelsea tried it already with Mourinho and are still paying the price for the club moving backwards as a result.

As always, don't be shy have your say in the comments.

Chelsea Clear-Out Planned

Chelsea executive Bruce Buck has revealed the club are planning to clear out some players to make way for replacements at the end of the season. He is quoted on Eurosport as saying:

"We haven't properly got together to talk about summer transfers yet, but I think that we could expect that several players will leave and that several players will come in," Buck said.

"I don't know whether that is three, four or five, but something in that kind of neighbourhood, so we can expect a handful to leave.

"We'd like to use internally generated cash to buy new players - and by that I mean sell players and buy new players.

"But of course if an appropriate player comes then money would be made available from the owner to buy him."

Caretaker boss Guus Hiddink is willing to advise on transfers although he still insists he will not be manager next season.

So, who do you think is likely to be shown the door at Chelsea and who is staying... who should Abramovich bring in?

Is it right that players will potentially be brought before a manager is in place?

Hiddink Accepts Chelsea

Guus Hiddink says he expects to be in charge of Chelsea by next week.

Hiddink will be in London by the end of this week and will be present for the game against Watford, though will be there as an observer. He will lead training from next week and will select the team for the Aston Villa Premier League tie.

He will be with Chelsea until the end of the English season and both he and Chelsea will look again then at whether to make the deal permanent.

Hiddink has expressed it is hi wish to help his friend Roman Abramovich, who he feels has done much to greatly improve Russian football.

Hiddink To Decide On Chelsea Job

Guus Hiddink has been made an offer to be Chelsea boss, according to the Times and Sky Sports. Chelsea were granted permission today to talk to Hiddink about a short term permission that will see him take control of Chelsea until the end of the season, as well as remaining coach of the Russian national team.

Hiddink has stated that he is not prepared to walk away from the Russian job mid-campaign, and previously held the job of Australian coach whilst managing PSV.

There is not much chance of Hiddink being in place for the FA cup game against Watford, so Ray Wilkins will remain temporarily in charge of first team affairs. But an answer is expected in the next few days.

Scolari Sacked

Chelsea's official website has a comment on the Scolari dismissal.

"Luiz Felipe Scolari has been dismissed as manager of Chelsea Football Club
today (Monday) with immediate effect.

"The Chelsea board would like to place on record our gratitude for his time as manager.

"Felipe has brought many positives to the club since he joined and we all feel a sense of sadness that our relationship has ended so soon.

"Unfortunately the results and performances of the team appeared to be deteriorating at a key time in the season.

"In order to maintain a challenge for the trophies we are still competing for we felt the only option was to make the change now.

"The search for a new manager has already started and we hope to
have someone in place as soon as possible.

"While that continues assistant coach Ray Wilkins will take charge of the team on a temporary basis."

Sky Sports say that Chelsea have already compiled a two man short list of Hiddink, and the man Scolari replaced Avram Grant. They even raise the possibility that Grant could be asked to return again to his previous role upstairs as a Director Of Football, and have Hiddink take on the first team. Grant was previously Director Of Football at Chelsea when Jose Mourinho was manager. There was some animosity, at least on Mourinho's part towards Grant as he resented his influence on team affairs, and Grant is thought to have been offered a return to this post in the summer when he was asked to step down as manager.

Scolari has also released a statement where he revealed that he regrets that he did not have more time to get things right with Chelsea, and rather revealingly worked in the fact that he intends to stay living in London, which sounds like a "come and get me" call to Europe's big clubs.

There is also a popular demand from some Chelsea fans that I spoke to today that a Zola/Clarke dream team could be tempted across London from West Ham. However, it is unlikely that Abramovich will go for Zola as his experience is limited to his time at West Ham and a spell with the Italian under 21's.