Source: FOOTYMAD
Hiddink the latest in SW6's Groundhog Day soap opera
Wake up and smell the coffee Roman Does anyone remember that brilliant film Groundhog Day - where Bill Murray is locked into replaying the same day over and over again? Well, over at SW6, a similar scenario is playing out...Last time it was Carlo Ancelotti - the supposed favourite father of Roman Abramovich (or RA as he is known at Stamford Bridge) who was feted, courted and finally hooked like a fish. Chairman Bruce Buck proudly states that Chelsea needs "stability" so good old Carlo can get on with the job and bring home the prizes - well, bring home the Champions League anyhow. But Like all the managers RA has employed in the past, he quickly tires of them. Claudio Ranieri - not an RA appointment but first in the firing line was a "Dead Man Walking" from day one. Jose Mourinho - the only man confident enough to stand up to RA's interference was savagely dispatched. Then we had the, who was it, Oh yes, Avram Grant - that brilliant tactician, and best buds of one of RA's advisors - he too came and went and no doubt will be back again. Avram has that affect on RA. And so to the first of our three Groundhog contenders Luiz Scolari. "He was the number one choice all along," exclaimed a SW6 insider. Now we will play Brazilian-like football. Sadly it was the Brazil of 1982 that was produced not the heralded 1970 one. Player-power was seen as his demise - Drogba, Ballack and Cech all apparently bending RA's ear about how poor Scolari was tactically and at training. Poor old Luiz was sent packing with a multimillion payoff - as were Mourinho and Grant. So it was onto Guus Hiddink - apparently "The number one choice all along," according to the same insider. But he only wanted a temporary roll - bit like Bill Greenwood at England back in the day. So he came, won a trophy won the Champions League - Oh no, he didn't it was robbed at the semi-final stage - but RA overlooked that one and he returned to Russia - a country RA dare not upset by trying to poach Hiddink. Ray Wilkins had one game in charge and won - at Watford in the FA Cup before Hiddink - and so Wilkins is technically the only Chelsea manager with a 100% record - but that was of course not good enough for RA. So Carlo was handed the job - "the number one choice all along," my SW6 insider laughed. Sadly for him he limped out of the Champions League against Inter Milan and again this season even more embarrassingly against Manchester United. RA must be getting soft - he allowed Ancelotti two bites at the Champions league cherry. As soon as United had dusted off a two-leg quarter-final victory, my man inside said Ancelotti is Ranieri Mark ll - dead man walking. And so it proved to be and in a dusty corridor at Goodison Park, chief executive Ron Gourlay tapped Carlo on the shoulder and told him to pack his bags. During Carlo's time, Hiddink jumped ship from Russia to Turkey. Now was the time for RA to finally nail "the number one choice after all". The deal has been done for some months now - careful leaks or "briefings" to trusted journos has informed us that Hiddink would welcome a return to day to day management - he's in his sixties but still up to the job - and most crucially of all, it's revealed that he's being advising RA - unpaid of course - on footballing matters for the past two years. And so it just needs the Turkish FA to hold out for the maximum compensation they can muster from RA before Guus Hiddink is "revealed" as Chelsea's latest coach. - Yes we really have been here before. But in Groundhog Day, Murray's character finally realises what's happening and forces a change for the good which brings normality back. What price would an bookie give for RA waking up and realsiing that it's him that has to change not his lacky coaches?
