Guus Hiddink could be persuaded to stay on, says Matt
Hughes
Ben Smith
Times
Online
Friday 20 February 2009
The Times Deputy Football Correspondent
analyses Guus Hiddink's first press conference at Stamford
Bridge and the challenges he faces.
- What was your overall impression
of Hiddink's first press conference?
He was very relaxed. He's been there, seen it and done
it all before. He was very keen to stress that he is
only there until the end of the season. It wasn't as
if he was getting his excuses in early, but he was hedging
his bets in terms of what he thinks he can achieve in
such a short period of time.
- Hiddink refused to concede the title, but do you
really believe he thinks Chelsea can overhaul Manchester
United and Liverpool?
He's very realistic. It doesn't look like United are
going to drop the points even if Chelsea go on an unbeaten
run until the end of the season, so his priority has
to be to get Chelsea into the Champions League next
season. Trophies are a bonus. The Champions League is
obviously the one Roman Abramovich really wants, but
given their current form they can't really expect to
win that. Hiddink will just be hoping to get past Juventus
and then he'll take it from there. He was keen to stress
that he was taking this one game at a time.
- How much of a challenge will Hiddink have in bringing
this Chelsea squad back together?
That's the key for him and it's the first challenge
he will have to overcome. He's a big hitter who has
been in four World Cups and won trophies all over the
world. So he brings an instant respect with him. You
only have to have seen Didier Drogba at Watford last
week; he was really putting it in and throwing himself
around in a way he simply didn't under Luiz Felipe Scolari.
It will be interesting to see if he has that effect
on Michael Ballack and the other underachievers in the
squad.
- With Hiddink stressing that he would only stay
until the end of the season, are Chelsea already making
moves to recruit a permanent replacement?
There are two scenarios to look at here. One is that
he is a success and Chelsea lean on him and get him
to stay, which is certainly possible where Roman Abramovich
is concerned - he normally gets his way. The second
option is that Hiddink leaves and they move to recruit
someone like Frank Rijkaard, who is available and could
take the job if he doesn't go to AC Milan. He's also
close to Hiddink which may help smooth the way for his
appointment in the summer.
Despite what Hiddink has said this morning, you could
still see him staying permanently?
It's definitely possible. The thing that won't change
is the link-up with the Russian national side. But if
he wins the Champions League and everyone wants him
to stay, it's a pretty hard job to walk away from. You
can't rule anything out at Chelsea. Ten days ago you
wouldn't have thought Scolari would be sacked. So as
we have seen before, anything is possible.
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