Key Events
Hiddink has left the building
That’s all from us too, for that matter.
As we head into the season of festive mayhem, we leave you with the key points from Guus Hiddink’s first press conference back at Stamford Bridge...
- Hiddink keen for Drogba reunion
- The Blues boss keen to reinvigorate his side
- The Premier League is a different beast to the one the Dutchman left
- Hiddink sympathises with Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho
Hiddink departs...
...the press conference.
The Blues interim boss certainly appears to have a strong affinity for the club, and he is clearly keen to be back.
Will he be able to get off to the best possible start against a Watford side he was keen to shower praise upon?
Hiddink on youth policy
“I’ll have my analysis, their development, what happens in games.
“It’s too soon now, but in general, if they show they are competitive, then I’m not against giving them options.”
Chelsea boss on importance of fans
Hiddink said: “I hope the fans will support the team.
“The fans must also think and express themselves about the recent past. The team has to take the initiative to get them back.
“What I know from Chelsea in recent years, they back up the team and the club.
“The team has to show it.”
Hiddink on Van Gaal
He said: “They are struggling also, for sure. The Premier League has strength, quality, capacity, intensity at a high level.”
Hiddink on long-term future
Hiddink: “First we said let’s go to May, hopefully a little bit longer, but we will see. As long as I feel desire, passion, it’s not an overnight decision, I must feel that passion to work with the guys.”
“We talked about til the end of the season. I have been with several clubs, and every now and then we have conversations about potential successors.”
Hiddink on upcoming match
“Respect for Watford. They have very strong strike partnership. They are very dangerous, not just by incident but frequently so a lot of respect. As I said, it can go all the way and hopefully a positive one for us. We need to go through a sequence of positive results.
“What I like in my teams is to have a spine from central defence to attackers to have strong people who can lead and coach during the game. I think we can do even more with the team.”
Hiddink on Jose
“Yeah of course I have sympathy, If you look at his record over the years, it’s amazing. Which titles he won, I don’t know by heart how many, but there were many, so much respect.
“But things happen in football like they happened here and people make decisions which they must take, and I go on as I am asked. But theoretically, I should not be here.
“I think there is not one coach in world football who has not been sacked.”
Hiddink on Premier League
He said: “Mathematically, yes, it is possible for top four. This league is a very strong league, but especially proven this year, with all due respect, to Leicester, Crystal Palace, Watford.
“Amazingly and refreshingly they are now in the top of the league. All the teams, they can kill each other.
“It has been changed since last time, yeah.”
Hiddink on Chelsea rumours and future
The Blues manager: “I didn’t want to have long conversations, much of a conversation. Sometimes they are wrong.
“I want to have my own judgment about performance on the pitch and in training. I’m observing, I want to make my own judgement.”
Blues manager on Chelsea season
“We have to show to ourselves, to the club, to the fans that the team has a big desire to wash away the past half-year and go forward.”
Hiddink on Netherland woes
“You have to watch everything and analyse everything. With Russia, we had a very good European Championship.
“Holland they had a very good result in the World Cup in Brazil but you get a bit of expectation leftover. But unfortunately I could not finish that job because the director decided halfway through qualification, when we were third, that I should quit my job. I was very disappointed by that decision.”
A Drogba return?
Hiddink said: “I worked with him five or six years ago, and I was delighted to have him in the squad. He is a legend already, both in and out of the club. The only thing is that in this moment he is playing in Montreal.
“All clubs have specific figures who can go into whatever they like, but they must be given the opportunity to do so, and it is important that they give the club a big image.”
The Dutchman on the performance against Sunderland
Hiddink: “In general, they were playing like they enjoyed it very much. Sometimes they even went over the top and didn’t kill it off. But it was good to see how they could play.”
Hiddink on Blues' ambitions
“Aims are the same, getting the Championship again. It’s not easy to fix, sometimes you might relax a bit as a team but then you get a wake up call somewhere.
“The situation is that last week they were down in the relegation zone, which is not easy for anyone.”
And finally, we begin...
Hiddink said: “I shouldn’t be here half-way through the season because it means things are not going well. But I’m glad to be back, a few years ago i was here in a similar situation, and I tried to help out.
“It’s the reality of today’s situation, but I am glad to be here.”
Here comes the new man
Here we go. The man who led the Blues to FA Cup glory in 2009 is all set to kick-off his second spell in charge of the club...
Drogba return on the cards
Interim manager Guus Hiddink has confirmed Chelsea are hoping to appoint Didier Drogba to the club’s coaching staff following the departure of Jose Mourinho.
Hiddink was yesterday confirmed as Mourinho’s replacement and watched from the comfort of Roman Abramovich’s executive box as the Blues returned to winning ways against Sunderland.
Former Chelsea striker Drogba joined the pair in the stands, sitting between the Russian and the Dutchman, sparking rumours of a sensational return to the club.
His presence was played down as nothing more than a visit was nothing more than a visit to his old stomping ground but plans are underway to add him to the new-look backroom team.
“I’d be happy to have him here,” Hiddink is quoted as saying of the Ivorian, who he worked with during his first stint at Chelsea, by the Daily Mail.
“At the moment he is still attached to his contract in Canada. But it is intended that he’s involved.”
Who are Hiddink's backroom staff?
Eddie Newton has been promoted to the role of assistant first-team coach as Guus Hiddink’s Chelsea backroom team takes shape.
The 44-year-old former Blues midfielder had been working closely with the club’s scouting department and acting as a player liaison officer for Chelsea’s army of loan players.
However, the appointment of Hiddink as Jose Mourinho’s replacement has seen a raft of coaches follow the Portuguese out of the door and open up a space in the dugout.
Mourinho’s trusted assistants Rui Faria, Silvino Louro, Jose Morias and Carlos Lalin have all departed and are likely to join the Special One once he finds another job.
Newton has been promoted and tasked with using his background knowledge of Chelsea’s young prospects to try and bridge the gap between the academy and the first-team.
Read our full story on who will be joining Hiddink on his Chelsea rescue mission.
Terry reckons Hiddink will shake up Blues
John Terry expects Hiddink to shake things up at Chelsea following his appointment as interim manager over the weekend.
It has been a whirlwind week for the west Londoners as fans’ favourite Mourinho was given the chop on Thursday afternoon.
The response from the players was immediate as Branislav Ivanovic, Pedro and Oscar fired the champions to a comprehensive 3-1 victory in front of their new manager and Didier Drogba.
Terry worked with Hiddink at Chelsea during the final three months of the 2008-09 campaign, lifting the FA Cup at Wembley, and thinks he can get confidence back into the squad.
“It’s down to him to come in and pick us up. He’s seen today what we are capable of. The first half was excellent. The second half was kind of deflated.
“What he will bring in is a hunger within the squad, passion and a lot of fire. He will demand a lot from the players, on the training pitch, and matches.
“So I’ve seen it before, he will come in and shake things up in a positive way and we will move forwards which is why the club made the decision.
“The last time he came in it wasn’t as bad in terms of the league position, Scolari wasn’t here five minutes and he went.”
Mourinho's plea to Abramovich
Sacked Mourinho reportedly begged Abramovich to address Chelsea’s players before the Russian decided to swing the axe.
Mourinho was relieved of his duties on Thursday afternoon following the club’s worst ever start to a Premier League campaign.
The writing had been on the wall for some time for Mourinho at Stamford Bridge and Monday’s ninth defeat from 16 league matches proved to be the final straw.
He could see the end-game was approaching and, according to the Daily Telegraph, Mourinho pleaded with the owner to pay a visit to the club’s Cobham training complex.
Abramovich’s presence in Surrey is rare and restricted to key moments, with the beleaguered boss hoping the billionaire could inspire his players to turn their season around.
The owner did drop in to take a look at the squad - but not until Friday morning in the immediate aftermath of Mourinho’s sacking.
It is understood that the verdict was delivered by director Eugene Tenenbaum and not by Abramovich, who is said to have had no contact with the Special One since Wednesday.
Guus Hiddink in profile
We’re about to get re-aquainted with Hiddink at Cobham today, but what do we already know about the interim Chelsea boss?
The 69-year-old Dutchman has a good relationship with Blues Roman chairman Abramovich after successfully guiding Chelsea through the 2008-09 season after Luis Felipe Scolari was sacked.
Chelsea finished third in the Premier League that year and won the FA Cup following a 2-1 final victory over Everton at Wembley.
The Stamford Bridge faithful sang his name in Chelsea’s final home game of the season, encouraging Abramovich to sign him up on a permanent basis.
But given that was a few years ago now, not to mention there have been quite a few faces to have come and gone in west London since, we’ve put together a dossier on the Dutchman.
Morning Chelsea fans!
Good morning everyone and welcome to today’s LIVE coverage of Guus Hiddink’s first Chelsea press conference as Jose Mourinho’s replacement.
The Dutchman is due to meet with the media at 12.30pm this afternoon at the club’s Cobham training base and we’ll be bringing you live updates from the Surrey facility.
It has been another crazy week for the Stamford Bridge club with Mourinho’s sacking on Thursday followed swiftly by Hiddink’s appointment on an interim basis.
The new boss, who enjoyed a similar stint on a temporary basis in 2009 as he guided Chelsea to the FA Cup, was in the stands on Saturday as the Blues beat Sunderland in west London.
His first game in the dugout comes on Boxing Day with the visit of a Watford side in good form and buoyed by an emphatic 3-0 victory over Liverpool last time out.
Stay tuned to find out what Hiddink has to say ahead of that fixture and we’ll learn plenty more from the Dutch master when he arrives here shortly.
