Many were wondering why top-caliber mentor Luiz Felipe Scolari was fired by Chelsea despite leading the blues to the final 16 of the UEFA Champions League and is currently behind by seven points to Premier League pacesetters and arch rivals Manchester United, which is still manageable with 13 games left in their 2008-09 season.Scolari’s replacement is current Russian National coach Guus Hiddink. Hiddink will be the third highly-profiled guru to handle the Stamford Bridge outfit in three years (after Jose Mourinho and Scolari). It seems that every coach, no matter how good and successful he is, will find himself in a very precarious situation at Chelsea. Mourinho, who piloted Chelsea to back-to-back EPL crowns, thought he had a steady job with the team, but alas, he was dismissed by team owner billionaire Roman Abramovich during the early part of last season. Next came Avram Grant, who temporarily took the cudgels from the fired Mourinho and led the club to a runner-up finish in last year’s UEFA Champions League. But like Mourinho, Grant was given his pink slip shortly after the 2008 campaign. The highly respected Scolari lasted only 25 matches with Chelsea and not even his successful international success can save him at Stamford Bridge. There were talks that some of the Chelsea stars resented the hard training regimen being imposed by Scolari and did not give their all-out performances resulting into Chelsea’s poor showing lately and Scolari’s head in return.
Maybe it is high time that Abramovich should take a close look into his spoiled brat stars like John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole. Their collective influence to the team’s other players are very strong. Hiddink, before he formally takes over the club, must sit down with Abramovich and the so-called “swellheads” and lay all his cards out on the table. He should make it clear who is in total control of Chelsea and Abramovich must likewise give his vote of confidence to Hiddink. If not, do not expect Hiddink to last that long with the once-proud London club.
