Source: Telegraph
Gianfranco Zola happy on easypeasy street at West Ham
West Ham United v MiddlesbroughKick-off: Sat Feb 14, 3.00pm; Upton Park, London [LNB]If he was asked just once for his thoughts on the Chelsea situation, he must have been asked a dozen times. "Look, I would rather talk about West Ham," the West Ham manager pleaded not unreasonably. Sorry, no chance, Franco. [LNB]So he obliged us as he always does. With charm, patience and a smile, telling us how he wished his old employers the very best in their current maelstrom. [LNB]Still, the more he then started enthusing about his grand project in east London, the more the favourite player in Chelsea's history gave his audience reason to wonder why the hell he would ever want to go west again after the latest happenings in the Stamford Bridge madhouse. [LNB]It was summed up in one lovely phrase, which he can only have picked up in a former life from Dennis Wise. Was he enjoying his time at West Ham? "For me, it's easy-peasy," he grinned. Easy-peasy because he could wake up every morning feeling his job was secure and his players were all batting for him. [LNB]Easy-peasy because the West Ham hierarchy "like my ideas and have let me do my job the way I want". Easy-peasy because he could go to the Chadwell Heath training ground, confident he was going back to "one of the best environments and happiest dressing rooms" he had experienced in sport. [LNB]He thought back to his first couple of months at Upton Park when the results weren't coming. "You need to plan, you need to be allowed special time just to change your players and the shape of the team. For me, it took a long time and, maybe if I'd been at another club, after two months I'd have been sacked," he mused. [LNB]Another club like, er, Chelsea. Of course, Zola couldn't possibly say that. [LNB]He is not about to throw darts in the direction of his old worshippers with a potential scenario this summer where West Ham's financial problems have taken another turn for the worse and Chelsea are looking for an old heroic saviour after a failed stopgap Guus Hiddink experiment, one who's just completed a hugely impressive first season in the Premier League with another old Bridge favourite Steve Clarke. [LNB]So could he give an assurance that he would be still at West Ham next year, he was asked. Naturally, he couldn't – and why should he in this fickle business? "No, I'm here. I'm enjoying myself and my job here isn't finished. My duty now is to improve this team so it gets better. So far I haven't given this club enough; this is just the beginning."[LNB]He is easy to believe, especially when he talks about repaying faith and loyalty "absolutely" to the club whose gamble on him has resulted in returning flair at the Boleyn and a recent run of just one defeat in nine matches. [LNB]And, anyway, the experience of Luiz Felipe Scolari, a World-Cup winner turfed out while lying fourth in the league, has evidently made him realise that the grass is not always greener even if he did admit to being flattered by the banner expressing undying love for him which is still unfurled at Stamford Bridge. [LNB]Could he imagine what it was like to be Scolari? "Yeah, but I'm not in Scolari's place. Chelsea is a place I care very much about and all I can do is wish them well. Hiddink I'm sorry for, Scolari as well," shrugged Zola. [LNB]"He's gone to a team that wants and expects to do well – I suppose there's a price to pay."[LNB]Of course, it's too early to judge how fine a manager Zola will be. He's so accommodating, so pleasant to everyone, you do wonder if he might not have the necessary streak of arrogance and ruthlessness in him which drives the very best. [LNB]His reputation as a great player, he could see again this week with Tony Adams's dismissal, is no protection. Yet perhaps his shining humility – they reckon he's still the best player on the training ground at Chadwell Heath but would never dream of showing up his charges – could be his strength, creating the concept that an anti-Mourinho could also become a special one. Imagine how refreshing that would be. [LNB]So what's the attraction of a cut-throat business to this gentleman. "My main motivation is that when I was a player I always wanted to learn something new. So I went into managing because I had that same idea. But I know nowadays it's difficult. [LNB]"People want results straight away from day one. In football, it doesn't work that way. I don't think there's any manager in the world who can change a player or a team in a few weeks." [LNB]The implication was obvious; for Chelsea, it's not going to be that easy-peasy. [LNB]
