Chelsea 2 Blackburn 0: Guus in the last chants saloon at Stamford Bridge

18 May 2009 01:11
The trick is to leave them wanting more, to leave them wonderingwhat might have been had Guus Hiddink been prepared to stay at StamfordBridge beyond his four-month secondment. To say that Chelsea's interim coach has played a blinder since hesucceeded Luiz Felipe Scolari on February 10 is an understatement,salvaging their season by unifying a divided dressing room. The players responded by guaranteeing a third-place finish in theBarclays Premier League, an unexpected appearance in the ChampionsLeague semi-final against Barcelona and the FA Cup final againstEverton on May 30. So did nearly 40,000 Chelsea supporters yesterday, stirring midwaythrough the second half to make their feelings known to owner RomanAbramovich, sat high up in the West Stand and tapping his bodyguardMark Skipp to ask what they were singing. They had started gently, with'Guus Hiddink, we want him to stay,' beginning to reverberate aroundthe stadium before they really got stuck in. 'Roman, Roman sign him up,' they demanded, before the best of all -'you can stick your Ancelotti up your a**e' - made its way around thestadium, sung with gusto by season ticket-holders unimpressed by theidentity of their potential new manager. It tugged at Hiddink's heart, as he rose from his seat in thedug-out to bow humbly to all four corners of the stadium, increasingthe fervour among the fans as Chelsea cruised to victory with goals byFlorent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka. 'I have had second thoughts, sometimes third thoughts, but I have toleave,' admitted Chelsea's interim coach. 'I don't have a button toturn off my feelings and I feel a kind of sadness. You can always talkabout contracts, but on top of that I am committed to a new process inRussia and it's a pleasure, something I have to fulfil. It doesn't meanit is not difficult to leave this atmosphere, though. 'It's a nice appreciation from the crowd, I didn't expect it. Theteam, after that first week, responded. The reaction of the crowd wassurprising for me. I'd like to thank them. It was a big surprise for methat they did it in a country where the football experience is big.' It will be tough, especially when captain John Terry embraced himduring a lap of appreciation after the final whistle, whispering in Hiddink's ear as they walked the touchline. The players do not want him to leave (contrast that to when Scolari was sacked), but he will be gone following the FA Cup final, returning to Russia to prepare for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Inevitably, the players wanted to give him the perfect send-off in his last Premier League game in charge at Stamford Bridge, a fitting tribute to a manager who is tactically astute and as fascinating tolisten to as Arsene Wenger. His team were off to the perfect start when Malouda, flying down thewing throughout another tantalising performance down the left, scored aterrific header after four minutes, getting ahead of Keith Andrews toreach Anelka's cross. It was too easy for Chelsea, much like the other 86 minutes. They controlled the game, peppering Paul Robinson's goal with shots from allangles, with Lampard on a mission to score for the first time since the Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool on April 14. They finally scored another after the break when Didier Drogba squared for Anelka and Chelsea's goalscorer buried his 59th-minute effort low to the inside of Robinson's right-hand post. Anelka admitted: 'We feel the same as the fans do about him. Hebrought us something we lacked. It is important that the right man isbrought in if we are to win trophies in the future.' Had they needed to score more, they could have got them, but Chelseawere in no mood to turn the screw, switching their attention to thefull-time whistle and a lap of appreciation that, bizarrely, included the WAGs. By then Blackburn were on the team bus, safe for another season after Sam Allardyce steered them to safety, pulling off one of thegreat rescue acts after Paul Ince's disastrous regime. Like Hiddink, he has left Blackburn's supporters wanting a whole lot more. 

Source: Daily_Mail