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?

Jose - I Want Premier League Return

The Sunday Express is reporting, here, that The Special One has told friends he wants to quit Italian football at the end of this season and move back to the Premier League.

The report even suggests that Jose has said he is "not a fan of Italian football."

Inter Milan look likely to secure a fourth consecutive Serie A Championship, but the Italian media have not warmed to Jose in the same way UK media outlets did.

It is thought that Newcastle and Man City might express an interest later in the Season if it is a real possibility to land Jose. Chelsea will also need a new manager in the summer. Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho have repaired their relationship since he left in September 2007, so it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Jose might be back in the dugout at Stamford Bridge by August.

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.

Abramovich Sounding Out Buyers?

Chelsea fans will be upset to learn that the rumours about Roman Abramovich looking to offload Chelsea have made it to the Times Newspaper, who are reporting that the oligarch is rumoured to be sounding out money men from the Gulf over a potential sale.

It may not be all doom and gloom for Chelsea. Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan is looking to splash out £107m on Kaka, and it looks like they can outspend the rest of the Premier League. As unthinkable as it would have been 2 or 3 years ago, Chelsea are not the richest club in the world anymore, they are even behind Championship club QPR.

A few billion quid doesn't buy you what it used to.

Unrest at Chelsea?

I blogged here the other week about a rumour that is on the Internet suggesting that Roman Abramovich may be falling out of love with Chelsea.

We David Platt, on Sky Sports is now suggesting that maybe a few Chelsea players have fallen out of love with the club too. He singled out Didier Drogba for particular criticism, here is an excerpt.

"He's not performing because he perhaps wants to get away to Inter and that could be the catalyst for what is going on at Chelsea."

The goal before half-time yesterday seemed to kill of Chelsea's appetite for the game, and it looks certain that United will leap-frog Chelsea in the table, being only one point behind, with two games in hand. Is the Drogs mind in Italy already?

With the Transfer window open, should Chelsea now venture into the market? Has the Russian Revolution at Chelsea ended or merely stalled?

Football Owners Richlist

FourFourTwo.com has published their Football Rich List of owners. The headline news is that Roman Abramovich has dropped to third place.



Top of the tree is Shehk Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan owner of Manchester City with a personal fortune of £15bn.



Two of the separate top 5 entries are the joint owners of QPR.



See the article here.

Trouble at Chelskea?

There are rumours circulating on the Internet that Chelsea's Billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich fortune has dwindled from €16.7bn to €2.25bn, thanks to the credit crunch. In what might prove to be the silliest of rumours this January, Abramovich may soon face a heart wrenching decision, sell the yacht (€200bn Pelorous) or sell the Premier League Football Club. The rumour goes that Abramovich considers the yacht too close to his heart.... Poor Roman.

The credit crunch has already caused some belt tightening at Chelsea. Big Phil has been told to sell before he can buy as there are no longer any spare millions floating around. That would make the move of Wayne Bridge to Man City - the newest club to hold the title of Richest Club in the World, for a potential £12m seem like a good bit of bit of business. This follows on from the clubs decision to force players pay for their meals at their Cobham training ground.