Abravomich knows that if there is one man who can pull off coaching both Chelsea and Russia, it is Hiddink (right). -- PHOTO: AFP
Quite a week in the court of Chelsea FC. Last Monday, the owner Roman Abramovich dropped in to spend 10 minutes sacking his coach Felipe Scolari. By Friday, his inner cabinet were announcing that Chelski were now among the top five earning clubs in the world - and had lost 'only' 65.7 million pounds (S$142 million) last season.
Hiddink: Genius?
Genius: Guus Hiddink won PSV Eindhoven the Dutch title in May 1987, after taking over in March. The next year, they did the Treble, including the European Cup. Took them to Champions League semi-finals, going out on the away-goals rule to AC Milan in 2004-05.
Big deal: PSV had won two on the bounce before he took over. With all due respect, Dutch titles are a dime a dozen. Winning in Europe was a lot easier then, when there was only one club from each of the big leagues. In fact, he has won only one European Cup match from the quarter-finals.
That sum included 23.1 million pounds to pay off Jose Mourinho and Avram Grant who, one way or another, displeased Abramovich last year.
Now, there will be another 7 million or 8 million pounds in compensation for that duffer Scolari, but what does it matter now that Abramovich has got the man he really wanted all along?
Only the oligarch could persuade the Russian federation, and smooth it with the Politburo, that sharing the national trainer Guus Hiddink with Chelsea is a good idea.
If it's a joke, nobody is laughing. Hiddink is a fast worker, an impact coach as Real Madrid, the Dutch national team, South Korea and Australia can testify. But try to imagine Abramovich asking Hiddink to manage in the English Premier League and qualify for the World Cup at the same time.
