The Times
Guus Hiddink confesses it will be hard to leave Chelsea
Chelsea 2 Blackburn 0
Kaveh Solhekol at Stamford Bridge
Guus Hiddink has had second thoughts about leaving Chelsea at the end of the season and the Dutchman has not ruled out returning to Stamford Bridge when his contract as the Russia coach runs out after next year’s World Cup finals in South Africa.
Hiddink has seen it all after 27 years in the dugout but he was almost in tears after 40,000 Chelsea supporters spent most of the second half of yesterday’s routine victory over Blackburn Rovers singing his praises and urging him to stay.
“I didn’t expect it,” Hiddink said. “The reaction of the crowd was a big surprise for me. I have had many second thoughts, sometimes third thoughts about leaving. When I see this reaction I feel sad to leave but that’s the reality.”
Hiddink was greeted with banners begging him to stay when he arrived at the ground yesterday and most of the second half was played with chants of “Guus Hiddink, we want you to stay” ringing in the air. Hiddink tried to get the crowd to focus on the game by performing a little bow in the 51st minute but that failed to do the trick and within seconds Chelsea supporters had turned their attention to Roman Abramovich, serenading the club’s owner with “Roman, Roman, sign him up”.
Abramovich chuckled away in his box but the Russian billionaire has already made contingency plans and Carlo Ancelotti, the AC Milan manager, is in pole position to be announced as Hiddink’s successor before the end of the month.
Hiddink’s priority when he replaced Luiz Felipe Scolari in February was to make sure that Chelsea qualified for the Champions League, but the former Holland, South Korea and Australia coach has told the board that it needs to spend money in the transfer market and reduce the average age of the squad in order to close the gap on Manchester United next season.
The prospect of finishing outside the top two for the first time since Abramovich bought the club six years ago has left a bad taste in John Terry’s mouth. “Third place isn’t good enough,” the Chelsea and England captain said. “I’m sure that next season Manchester United will be as good again and that Liverpool will maintain their improvement. It’s up to us get back in among and ahead of them.”
That would be easy if Chelsea could play Blackburn every week. Hiddink’s team needed only four minutes to get off the mark yesterday, Florent Malouda scoring with an old-fashioned bullet header from 12 yards. Nicolas Anelka was given too much time and space to cross from the right and Malouda took advantage of a half-hearted challenge by Keith Andrews to score for the third time in four games.
Andrews was so frustrated by the lack of protection that he was receiving from his team-mates that the Blackburn right back launched a foul-mouthed tirade of abuse at his bench midway through the first half after he had been left exposed for the umpteenth time.
Blackburn were more casual than an MP doing his expenses and Chelsea could have been out of sight by half-time. Anelka shot straight at Paul Robinson, Frank Lampard’s drive hit the bar and Ryan Nelsen had to stretch every bone in his body to clear a lob by Malouda off the line.
The only negative aspect of Chelsea’s exhilarating first-half display was a ridiculous dive in the Blackburn penalty area by José Bosingwa that rightly earned the Portugal defender a yellow card.
Anelka increased Chelsea’s lead in the 59th minute with a right-foot strike from the edge of the penalty area, but by that stage trying to get Hiddink to stay was just as important as the result.
“One year ago I wouldn’t have thought that I would manage Chelsea, so I can’t predict what happens after the Russia adventure,” Hiddink, 62, said. “But I’m not getting any younger.”
Chelsea (4-3-3): P Cech 6 - J Bosingwa 6, Alex 6, J Terry 6, A Cole 7 - M Essien 7, J O Mikel 7, F Lampard 7 - N Anelka 8, D Drogba 6, F Malouda 7. Substitutes not used: Hilário, B Ivanovic, F Di Santo, S Sinclair, J Belletti, M Mancienne, M Stoch. Next: Sunderland (a).
Blackburn (4-4-2): P Robinson 6 - K Andrews 5, R Nelsen 5, G Givet 5, S Warnock 6 - E-H Diouf 5, Tugay Kerimoglu 6, V Grella 5, M G Pedersen 5 - C Villanueva 5, C Samba 6. Substitutes: A Doran 5 (for Nelsen, 44min), Z Khizanishvili 6 (for Givet, 46), B McCarthy 5 (for Pedersen, 65). Not used: M Bunn, A Mokoena, K Treacy, M Olsson. Next: West Bromwich Albion (h).
Referee: R Styles Attendance: 40,804
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Telegraph:
Chelsea 2 Blackburn Rovers 0: Match report
Chelsea supporters – a vocal minority at least – made clear to Roman Abramovich that they didn’t want Carlo Ancelotti as the club’s next manager.
By Jason Burt at Stamford Bridge
“You can stick your Ancelotti up your…” they sang, in rather a surreal piece of advice to the Russian billionaire about the man he has lined up to succeed Guus Hiddink when he steps down in two weeks time.
But then it was quite a surreal afternoon. Hiddink was afforded a guard of honour by the Chelsea players and proceeded to cha-cha down it with 85-year-old Roy Bentley in tow and also did a theatrical bow to the crowd after they chanted “we want you to stay” to him while they also urged Abramovich to “sign him up”.
But then Abramovich already has and it is to that job, as Russia’s coach, that Hiddink must return. He will do so with some regret, and he is becoming more and more open about that, after a spell in charge of Chelsea that has re-energised the club and brought in a feel-good factor that goes beyond just winning. “He brought us something we lacked,” said man of the match Nicolas Anelka.
“I have many second thoughts, sometimes third thoughts,” Hiddink said when asked whether he had thought again. “You cannot avoid them. You don’t have a button to turn of your feelings, but that’s how it is.” So the message is: I wish I could stay but I can’t. And Abramovich knows that also. “I have given my commitment (to Russia) and I have to fulfil that. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not difficult to leave this atmosphere,” Hiddink said.
It sounded like the end of some memorable if inevitably doomed temporary love affair even if Hiddink added, with customary wickedness, that this time last year he didn’t imagine being Chelsea manager – so who knows what might be around the corner?
His parting advice will be simple. This Chelsea squad is good but, beyond a first-choice of 13 and 14 players there is a lack of strength in depth. Investment is neededbut, for now, and maybe forever, it will not be Hiddink’s direct responsibility. Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck, in programme notes, said the club hoped to announce a successor “sooner rather than later”.
Ancelotti remains first choice and his post-match comments, after Milan’s defeat to Udinese on Saturday, revealed for the first time a chink in his blanket defence of insisting he intended to stay at the San Siro. Next weekend, he said, his future would be determined.
Inevitably it meant this match was all a bit of a sideshow – although it developed into an entertaining one with Paul Robinson denying Chelsea a far greater margin of victory even if he was beaten, early on, by Florent Malouda with a powerful header after the winger took advantage of Keith Andrews’s obvious lack of comfort at right-back. Robinson was beaten again, in the second-half, by Anelka with a low shot after he was teed up by Didier Drogba. But Robinson pulled off a series of stops – denying Anelka on several occasions, Malouda and Ashley Cole while Frank Lampard’s side-footed shot struck the angle of post and cross-bar.
Not that, for a while, Blackburn didn’t threaten. Ryan Nelsen and Christopher Samba both fluffed headers while the latter showed what he was – a makeshift striker – when volleying woefully wide from Tugay’s clever chip. Blackburn also lost both central defenders to injury and the end of the contest couldn’t come quickly enough for them, safe from relegation, or their manager Sam Allardyce who dashed through his post-match press conference with the air of man heading on holiday and thankful that he’s now at Ewood Park rather than St James’s.
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Mail:
Chelsea 2 Blackburn 0: Guus in the last chants saloon as boss prepares for Russian return
By NEIL ASHTON
The trick is to leave them wanting more, to leave them wondering what might have been had Guus Hiddink been prepared to stay at Stamford Bridge beyond his four-month secondment. To say that Chelsea's interim coach has played a blinder since he succeeded Luiz Felipe Scolari on February 10 is an understatement, salvaging their season by unifying a divided dressing room. The players responded by guaranteeing a third-place finish in the Barclays Premier League, an unexpected appearance in the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona and the FA Cup final against Everton on May 30.
So did nearly 40,000 Chelsea supporters yesterday, stirring midway through the second half to make their feelings known to owner Roman Abramovich, sat high up in the West Stand and tapping his bodyguard Mark Skipp to ask what they were singing. They had started gently, with 'Guus Hiddink, we want him to stay,' beginning to reverberate around the stadium before they really got stuck in. 'Roman, Roman sign him up,' they demanded, before the best of all - 'you can stick your Ancelotti up your a**e' - made its way around the stadium, sung with gusto by season ticket-holders unimpressed by the identity of their potential new manager.
It tugged at Hiddink's heart, as he rose from his seat in the dug-out to bow humbly to all four corners of the stadium, increasing the fervour among the fans as Chelsea cruised to victory with goals by Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka.'I have had second thoughts, sometimes third thoughts, but I have to leave,' admitted Chelsea's interim coach. 'I don't have a button to turn off my feelings and I feel a kind of sadness. You can always talk about contracts, but on top of that I am committed to a new process in Russia and it's a pleasure, something I have to fulfil. It doesn't mean it is not difficult to leave this atmosphere, though. 'It's a nice appreciation from the crowd, I didn't expect it. The team, after that first week, responded. The reaction of the crowd was surprising for me. I'd like to thank them. It was a big surprise for me that they did it in a country where the football experience is big.' It will be tough, especially when captain John Terry embraced him during a lap of appreciation after the final whistle, whispering in Hiddink's ear as they walked the touchline.
The players do not want him to leave (contrast that to when Scolari was sacked), but he will be gone following the FA Cup final, returning to Russia to prepare for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Inevitably, the players wanted to give him the perfect send-off in his last Premier League game in charge at Stamford Bridge, a fitting tribute to a manager who is tactically astute and as fascinating to listen to as Arsene Wenger. His team were off to the perfect start when Malouda, flying down the wing throughout another tantalising performance down the left, scored a terrific header after four minutes, getting ahead of Keith Andrews to reach Anelka's cross. It was too easy for Chelsea, much like the other 86 minutes. They controlled the game, peppering Paul Robinson's goal with shots from all angles, with Lampard on a mission to score for the first time since the Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool on April 14.They finally scored another after the break when Didier Drogba squared for Anelka and Chelsea's goalscorer buried his 59th-minute effort low to the inside of Robinson's right-hand post. Anelka admitted: 'We feel the same as the fans do about him. He brought us something we lacked. It is important that the right man is brought in if we are to win trophies in the future.'Had they needed to score more, they could have got them, but Chelsea were in no mood to turn the screw, switching their attention to the full-time whistle and a lap of appreciation that, bizarrely, included the WAGs. By then Blackburn were on the team bus, safe for another season after Sam Allardyce steered them to safety, pulling off one of the great rescue acts after Paul Ince's disastrous regime. Like Hiddink, he has left Blackburn's supporters wanting a whole lot more.
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Independent:
Bridge of sighs bids farewell to Hiddink
Chelsea 2 Blackburn Rovers 0
By Glenn Moore
Emotions ran high at Stamford Bridge for the second successive match but instead of the anger and frustration which marked the conclusion of Chelsea's Champions League campaign the mood was one of sadness and gratitude.
Yesterday marked the beginning of Guus Hiddink's long goodbye as the Dutch caretaker took charge of Chelsea for the last time at home. He signed off with a comfortable victory, goals from Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka only hinting at Chelsea's superiority, and the fondest of farewells.
Throughout the afternoon a banner adorned the Matthew Harding Stand reading "Thanks Guus", sentiments that were echoed in the match programme by John Terry and Bruce Buck. The chairman also wrote that the club hoped to make an announcement about their latest new manager "sooner rather than later".
The supporters then made it clear their belief that no such appointment should be required. Chants of "One Guus Hiddink" gave way to "We want you to stay", at which Roman Abramovich was seen laughing. The owner, and the expected next manager, Carlo Ancelotti, were then given something to ponder as the choristers broke into a pointed refrain, "You can stick your Ancelotti up your arse."
Hiddink had by then risen from his seat to give a stiff, slightly embarrassed, bow. During Chelsea's post-match lap of honour he was less restrained, dancing up a guard of honour with the former player Roy Bentley, who was celebrating his 85th birthday.
Quite what Avram Grant would have made of this is anybody's guess. Like Hiddink he took over mid-season as the club reeled from a high-profile management departure. From a lower position he oversaw a second-placed Premier League finish (Hiddink's Chelsea will come third) and lost the Champions League final on penalties (Hiddink reached the semi-final). Yet he was barely tolerated by the fans.
"I've only been here a short time and I did not expect something of this magnitude," said Hiddink. "It was a big surprise. I thought it would be respectful, but not more. I have had second thoughts, third thoughts [about staying] but I have to leave. I feel sadness, but that is the reality. I am committed to the adventure in Russia."
Unlike Grant, Hiddink may finish the season with a trophy, the FA Cup. Chelsea are favourites to beat Everton at Wembley on 30 May and Hiddink gave his first-choice team the chance to rehearse. Only Michael Ballack, hit by flu, was absent. They were impressive, but Everton will provide more demanding opposition than Blackburn, who had relaxed after their safety was assured by Saturday's results.
In the fourth minute no one challenged Jose Bosingwa as he drove forward. No one was marking Anelka when he received the ball on the right. And Keith Andrews was too slow to pick up Malouda who met Anelka's cross with a header. Unlike his predecessors Hiddink has found a way to partner Didier Drogba and Anelka, and to draw consistently good performances from Malouda, without compromising the club's defensive strengths.
With Rovers, already injury-hit, losing both centre-halves it could have been a rout. Paul Robinson prevented that with a string of excellent saves but could not prevent Anelka drilling in his 18th league goal from Drogba's lay-off.
Hiddink, having noted Chelsea need to acquire more depth, and younger legs, this summer, concluded that he could return after the 2010 World Cup. "You cannot predict the future, but we'll see what happens when I leave Russia." Something else for Ancelotti, and any managerial target, to consider.
Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, A Cole; Essien, Mikel, Lampard; Anelka, Drogba, Malouda. Substitutes not used: Hilario (gk), Ivanovic, Di Santo, Sinclair, Belletti, Mancienne, Stoch.
Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Robinson; Andrews, Nelsen (Doran 43), Givet (Khizanishvili h/t), Warnock; Tugay, Grella, Villanueva; Diouf, Samba, Pedersen (McCarthy 65). Substitutes not used: Bunn (gk), Mokoena, Treacy, Olsson.
Referee: R Styles (Hampshire).
Booked: Chelsea Bosingwa. Blackburn Doran, Khizanishvili.
Man of the match: Anelka.
Attendance: 40,804.
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Guardian:
Stamford Bridge faithful let Roman know who their favourite emperor isChelsea 2 Malouda 4, Anelka 59 Blackburn Rovers 0
Dominic Fifield at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea's interim manager Guus Hiddink orchestrated another win, meaning he has dropped only five points in 12 league games.
Guus Hiddink bade farewell with a polite bow, a brief thanks to the supporters in an interview on the pitch and an admission that he has had "second and sometimes third thoughts" over whether he is doing the right thing to leave Chelsea so soon, yet it was Roman Abramovich whodeparted the occasion with most to ponder. This game had drifted beyond the hour when the most vocal section of the Matthew Harding stand broke off from their salutations of the temporary manager to chorus: "You can stick your Ancelotti up your arse." Their message was loud and clear.
It cannot have escaped Abramovich, watching from his executive box on high. Chelsea continue their pursuit of a permanent successor to Hiddink still hopeful that Carlo Ancelotti, long since their first choice to take up the reins on a permanent basis, will agree to sever ties with San Siro at the end of the month. Their resolve will not be deflected by the dissonant voices which punctured the praise showered upon the part-time incumbent, yet theirs was an uncomfortable show of dissent. Hiddink has been made welcome here by the fans more than any manager since Jose Mourinho. The frustration grows that this club will not be able to retain his services next term.
The players recognise as much. Nicolas Anelka, the game's outstanding performer, said: "We feel the same as the fans do about him. Since he came here, we've played so much better." A record of five dropped points in 12 league games, together with unfortunate elimination from the Champions League semi-finals to Barcelona and an FA Cup final to come, reflects the improvement, with the feeling mutual. Even Hiddink admitted he is torn at the prospect of departing after the Cup final against Everton. His hands, however, remain tied.
"I have many second thoughts, sometimes third thoughts," he conceded. "You cannot avoid them. You don't have a button to turn them off, but that's how it is. When I have to leave – having seen the reaction of the players in the way they've worked – I will feel a kind of sadness. That's for sure but that's the reality. You can talk about contracts but, when you are committed to people – Russia, in this case – and have given them your commitment with pleasure, I have to fulfil that. But that doesn't mean that it's difficult to leave this."
This was a celebration of the Dutchman's brief reign, a simple victory against opponents who had been rendered arithmetically safe by results on Saturday, yet the warmth shown to Hiddink during the game as well as after the final whistle left even this man of the world taken aback. "We did things with Australia, who hadn't previously had the confidence to reach a World Cup, and so we got a reaction there, and it was the same with [South] Korea. But, in a country that leads the way with the Premier League and has many big managers, I expected the reaction to be respectful, not more. I was positively surprised."
The reception was heartfelt. Anelka's beautifully dispatched goal just before the hour, clinically skimmed into the corner from Didier Drogba's lay-off, had prompted the locals to turn their minds to other things. The chant of "Roman, sign him up" duly went up, much to the owner's amusement, before the fans addressed Ancelotti's potential involvement. The Italian continues to send out mixed messages, claiming both that he was "yet to decide" upon his future and that he remained "committed to his contract" with Milan, which runs until 2010, after the Rossoneri's defeat at Udinese on Saturday.
That loss left them still striving for Champions League qualification, with Chelsea not expecting to make any announcement on Hiddink's successor – whether it be Ancelotti or not – until after the FA Cup final at the very earliest. "The board and Roman are actively engaged in recruiting a new manager who we believe can lead us to trophy after trophy next season and beyond," the chairman, Bruce Buck, wrote in his programme notes, "and also endear himself to us fans as much as Guus has." They clearly have a job on their hands.
This match was no reflection of the job that awaits the new man at the helm. Rovers were porous and prone, relaxed with their top-flight status guaranteed, and offered only sporadic resistance throughout. Chelsea might have run up a cricket score. Profligacy, and some fine saves from Paul Robinson, denied them a rout, but this was comfortable from the moment the visitors were prised apart four minutes in. There was to be no recovering a deficit.
That opening goal was outstanding, Jose Bosingwa sending Anelka scurrying down the right with the French striker's cross headed beyond a diving Robinson by Florent Malouda from just inside the penalty area. Malouda has been a man possessed in recent weeks, his form revived by Hiddink's faith in his ability to unnerve full-backs. His reward here should have opened the floodgates.
As it was, Blackburn clung on, Robinson denying Anelka and Ashley Cole from close-range, and Ryan Nelsen scrambling Malouda's lob from the goal-line, before Anelka secured the win after the interval. "It was a nice way to say goodbye," added Hiddink. Regardless, it was no way to greet his potential successor.
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Sun:
Chelsea 2 Blackburn 0
CHELSEA gave Guus Hiddink the perfect Stamford Bridge send off by easing past Blackburn.
Florent Malouda netted inside four minutes as the Blues cruised through the first half.
Nicolas Anelka doubled the lead just before the hour mark to go level with Cristiano Ronaldo as the Premier League's top scorer.
There was a carnival atmosphere in the second-half around the Bridge as fans paid tribute to boss Hiddink.
The Dutchman agreed to be Phil Scolari's successor in February until the end of the season.
Despite only reaching the FA Cup final and missing out on the Premier League and Champions League titles, he has become a fans' favourite.
There were chants of "sign him up", jokingly aimed towards Blues owner Roman Abramovich and Hiddink even gave the crowd a bow.
The Russian must have liked what he saw as Malouda's header fired his side into an early lead.
Jose Bosingwa started the move in his own half before finding Anelka on the right wing.
The France star's inch-perfect crossed was powerfully dispatched past Paul Robinson by his international team-mate Malouda.
Chelsea controlled the match with Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Anelka all going close.
But the game was not fully put to bed until Anelka's strike 15 minutes after the break.
Didier Drogba's unselfish lay-back was cooly slotted home from the edge of the box.
The introduction of Benni McCarthy from the bench could not spark Blackburn into life with Tugay's long-ranger their only notable effort of the 90 minutes.
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