“Chelsea is such a big club and we are not used to being down here”.
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The 69-year-old had a caretaker spell in charge at Stamford Bridge in 2009 when the Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari was sacked. Some players were no longer giving 100 per cent and that’s not a nice thing to say about any group of players but I think that’s what happened at that football club.
A disastrous start to the campaign saw the Blues part ways with Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho, before confirming the appointment of Hiddink as stand-in coach.
Hiddink watched from the stands with Mourinho’s former assistants Steve Holland and Eddie Newton in charge for the day.
“I am looking forward to working with the players and staff at this great club and especially renewing my wonderful relationship with the Chelsea fans”.
Chelsea said that it views the Dutchman as a coach with a “wealth of top-level experience and success”.
He has also managed Fenerbahce, Valencia, Real Madrid, Real Betis and Anzhi Makhachkala, as well as the national teams of the Netherlands, twice, South Korea, Australia, Russia and Turkey. John Terry and chairman Bruce Buck both addressed Mourinho’s departure in sombre tones in their columns – the only references to the club’s most successful ever manager in Chelsea’s 74-page matchday programme. We may never get to the bottom of what has happened in the dressing room but the players can be no excuses for failing to perform any more.
“When I played and we had a bad game then the players got it. Today, if the players don’t win a game then the manager gets it – he got his tactics wrong, the XI he picked wasn’t right”.
“We leave all decisions to Mr Abramovich and the board, and know that our job, as players, is to focus on getting results on the pitch”.
The agency that represents Mourinho said in a statement that he would not be taking a sabbatical and would be attending matches in order to provide support to his “friends” in the game.
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Lingering fan resentment over the lack of consequences for a group of players whose performances had made Mourinho’s fate inevitable gained a new level of toxicity with various reports this week that Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard had actively worked to undermine the manager.
