Returning interim manager Guus Hiddink scrapped plans for a winter holiday after getting an SOS call from Roman Abramovich.
Abramovich had been agonising over whether to sack Jose Mourinho for weeks after a shambolic start to the defence of Chelsea’s Premier League crown.
The ruthless Russian billionaire finally lost patience last week and pulled the trigger after the club’s ninth defeat in 16 games.
He turned to a man he knows well in Hiddink, who was parachuted in on a similar rescue mission in 2009, naming him boss until the end of the season.
Hiddink has been out of work since leaving his job with the Netherlands in July and had been planning on putting his feet up over the festive period.
But the lure of Chelsea proved stronger than the appeal of some winter sun in India, leaving Hiddink to pack away the sun tan lotion and get back into the dugout.
“I had big plans. Big plans,” Hiddink explained. “Every Christmas, if my work lets me go, we go to another continent. This time was South East Asia. But I had to cancel it.
“At home they were... p****d off. Yes. That was the first reaction, but they know me.
“The second reaction, almost in the same second, was 'you like your job so much you still have the desire and passion to do it'. She could see it in my eyes. So she's going without me.
“We were in Africa and Asia [in previous years]. I travelled a lot in Australia and Korea. I travel a lot so, in the winter, we escape from Europe.”
Hiddink didn’t think too long before accepting Abramovich’s offer and he remains eager to prove the doubters wrong after the way things ended with the Dutch national team.
He has been rejuvenated since settling back in at Cobham and has been impressed with the work done by the backroom team in preparing the team for Saturday’s clash with Watford.
“I was very disappointed the directors took that decision with Holland,” he added. “I wanted to finish it off. As long as I feel the desire... I'm in my 70th year of life, and I don't want to go for a long time.
Guus Hiddink's first Chelsea press conference in pictures:
“That's not for me nor for the club, maybe, so it's a short period now.
“It wasn't weeks [needed to decide]. It was a quick decision from either side, but I asked always to have some thoughts and feelings.
“I have the experience that the feeling must settle down and then I know, although tough, whether I should go for it.
“In the past, honestly, everything in this club was well organised. It's still a warm club. You have to regain that warmth in the inside which I did in the last few days. Also to the outside world for Chelsea.
“I think Steve Holland has done a terrific job. I followed him at Saturday's game and he did a good job. When I see that, I give them full exposure and let them do it.
“They are young managers. I'm not the kind to say the light is fully on me now. I want these guys to develop and what he's shown me, in our conversations, he's fully equipped to do a good job.”
Read more:Five things we learned from Guus Hiddink's first press conference.
