Source: Telegraph
John Terry to hold unity meeting with Chelsea teammates
Terry, the club's long-standing captain, said that Scolari had his support and that of assistant captain Frank Lampard, but admitted he could not speak for the rest of the squad over their attitude towards the former Brazil and Portugal coach. [LNB]With temporary manager Guus Hiddink meeting the players for the first time yesterday, Terry also predicted that the Dutchman would be offered the job on a permanent basis should results improve significantly over the remainder of the season. [LNB]"I like the fact that Guus Hiddink has stayed loyal to the Russia team," Terry said. "He has got them an awful long way in a short amount of time. We have six months to turn things around and if we do he will probably get offered the full-time job. [LNB]"It is down to us to put in the performances and get results for him and then hopefully something can be done in the summer. [LNB]"He realises the situation we're in, both him and the players have a very big job to do. But if we don't do it now we're going to rule ourselves out of the title race. We are behind Manchester United and they have a game in hand. In the Champions League we have Juventus and they are going very well in the Italian League. [LNB]"We have Watford away in the FA Cup which is a difficult game and they will be pleased with what's been going on at our place for sure." [LNB]Terry likened the situation to Avram Grant's appointment as Chelsea manager last season when the players held a meeting at the captain's request and then challenged strongly for silverware. [LNB]"The same is going to be needed again," he said. "I can only speak for myself and Lamps – we were behind the manager. You will have to speak to other players to find out what their thoughts and feelings are. [LNB]"Obviously as a manager you're never going to keep everyone happy. One thing is for sure, the players really need to stick together now and, whatever differences there were between players or managers, we really need to push on because if we don't our season will be over very quickly. We have underachieved for a year or so now."[LNB]Lampard said that he and Terry would take particular responsibility for "trying to put things right", but stressed that every player had to be individually accountable for their performances. [LNB]Petr Cech, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba all reportedly criticised Scolari in a recent meeting with Abramovich, but Lampard added: "Everyone is talking about uniting dressing-rooms – the players just need to perform. [LNB]"We have to look at ourselves and worry about our own performances. If you start looking for problems in a dressing-room you'll find them, [but] if you worry about yourself and your own performance you can hold your head up high every day. [LNB]"I don't think it's about divisions, it's more about individuals. I don't think you really need to comment on managers' performances in that way. When things don't go right then we need to look at ourselves as players and not blame anyone else."[LNB]Lampard admitted that Chelsea's turnover of managers was undesirable, but the midfielder was still excited by the prospect of working alongside Hiddink. [LNB]"He's obviously a fantastic manager," Lampard said. [LNB]"Technically he seems very good as his teams always play very good football. It's not ideal, we'd all love to stick and have the same manager and have success for many years. "We're fortunate enough we've got an owner that has come in and given us all our dreams at Chelsea. So I don't think you can complain too much, you just keep going. You don't become a bad team overnight."[LNB]Lampard also accepted that Champions League qualification was under threat following the emergence this season of Aston Villa. "Of course it is under threat because that is the way football is," the midfielder said. "If we drop enough points it will be under threat because there are teams behind us trying to push into our position."[LNB]With Abramovich largely funding Hiddink's salary as Russia coach, officials from the Russia Football Union accepted that they had little choice but to allow the 62-year-old to combine his international position with Chelsea. [LNB]There is, though, disquiet in Russia about Hiddink's attempt to combine the two jobs ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Azerbaijan on March 28 and Liechtenstein on April 1. [LNB]Russian coach Gadji Gadzhiev said: "If Guus is going to combine his work with us with the Chelsea job, he'll need to split himself in two. He cannot concentrate properly on one team." [LNB]Hiddink said yesterday that he did not need any break and felt "privileged" to be working every day. The situation will be reviewed at the end of the season, although Carlo Ancelotti, who is also one of the main candidates to take the job permanently, has indicated that he would like to stay with AC Milan. [LNB]"Last summer I met Roman Abramovich but I didn't want to leave Milan," he said. "If the same thing happens now I would say no again." [LNB]
