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Guus Hiddink set to return to Chelsea after Russia's
World Cup exit
Carlo Ancelotti says he is happy to work with Dutchman
Roberto Mancini favourite to be Russia's new coach
Luke Harding in Moscow and Dominic Fifield
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Guus Hiddink is under fire in Moscow after
Russia's exit from the World Cup Cup in Slovenia this week. Photograph:
John Sibley/Action Images
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Guus Hiddink plans to return to Chelsea as technical director
following his failure to guide Russia to the World Cup. Hiddink said yesterday
that an announcement on his future could come as early as next month.
He has a contract as Russia's head coach until the end of June 2010 but
sources say the Dutchman will almost certainly quit and take a job at
Chelsea.
The 63-year-old had a successful spell as Chelsea's temporary manager
last season, stepping in after the departure of Luiz Felipe Scolari and
winning the FA Cup. He remains on extremely good terms with the club's
owner, Roman Abramovich, who finances Hiddink's $8m (?4.85m) annual salary
as Russia's coach and also underwrites the country's national football
academy and other projects.
Chelsea have made no secret that they would welcome back Hiddink with
open arms. It is understood that no talks have taken place but that the
club would be delighted if he were to take up a position. They emphasised
when he left last summer that he "will always be welcome back at
Chelsea as a friend and in any other football capacity".
It is understood his role at Stamford Bridge would be to offer support
to Carlo Ancelotti and would not threaten the manager. He would, though,
be able to step in as a trouble-shooter should Chelsea, who are top of
the Premier League and have qualified from the group stage of the Champions
League, unexpectedly begin to falter.
A source close to Hiddink said: "He would go back and would be in
position [to assist] if something is going not that well." He added:
"The Chelsea players like him. He's already been at the club. There
is a proverb in Russian that you can step twice into the same water. It
is something he is capable of."
Ancelotti said yesterday that he would be happy to work with Hiddink.
"Guus Hiddink is my friend," he said before today's game at
home to Wolverhampton Wanderers. "If he has free time, he can come
to Chelsea and we can train together. It's not a problem." Jokingly,
he added: "Maybe I could take a little holiday."
It is unclear how a role for Hiddink as technical director would impact
on Frank Arnesen's recently adopted duties as sporting director, given
that the Dane deals with player recruitment, youth development and Chelsea's
extensive scouting department. Arnesen's position at the club was recently
strengthened by Peter Kenyon's departure as chief executive, with Ron
Gourlay stepping up from within the club to replace him.
Hiddink's plans should be clarified shortly. "I think my future will
be decided relatively quickly," he told Russia's Sovietsky Sport
newspaper yesterday. He expects a formal decision to be made in the next
month or in January and is unlikely to accept an offer from any other
Premier League club.
The Dutchman said that the Russian football federation approached him
last month, before a defeat by Germany in Moscow in a World Cup qualifier,
over a possible new contract. But he looks set to leave after the World
Cup play-off defeat by Slovenia - with powerful forces inside Russia's
football federation now said to be openly plotting against him.
Yesterday Russian state-run newspapers squarely blamed Hiddink for Russia's
failure to overcome Slovenia. Russia went into Wednesday's second leg
with a 2-1 advantage after last Saturday's match in Moscow but lost 1-0
to be eliminated on the away goal and had two players, including Chelsea's
Yuri Zhirkov, sent off.
"You have to be honest. Russian football has taken a step backwards,"
Hiddink said. "To play in the World Cup is always prestigious for
a country. I know a lot of Russians were planning to go to South Africa.
But we have to carry on working - as before the future of the Russian
team is linked to the majority of players in today's squad."
Hiddink took over as Russia's coach in 2006. He guided the national side
through a tricky qualifying group including England and Croatia and took
the team to a historic semi-final place in the 2008 European Championship.
At the height of his success Hiddink was more popular in Russia than Vladimir
Putin, no mean feat.
But on this occasion the fortune he previously enjoyed in World Cup finals
with Holland, Australia and South Korea eluded him. Even before Wednesday's
away defeat some observers suggested that Hiddink had tired and grown
fed up with the Russia job - pointing out he spent only 30 days in Russia
this year.
Hiddink's likely departure from Russia comes against the backdrop of a
murky, long-running power struggle inside the Russian football federation.
Vitaly Mutko, Russia's sports minister, is stepping down as the association's
chairman. His successor is Sergei Fursenko, the former manager of Zenit
St Petersburg, which is backed by the Russian state energy giant Gazprom.
Mutko was a close ally of Abramovich. Fursenko, by contrast, belongs to
a different faction from St Petersburg with influential allies inside
the Russian government. Fursenko will want to install his people in key
positions, and will also seek to replace Hiddink with his own choice of
manager, observers believe.
The front-runner to succeed Hiddink is rumoured to be Roberto Mancini,
the former Internazionale coach. Mancini was in Russia two weeks ago watching
several league matches. The 44-year-old former Italy international has
not had a coaching job since he left Inter in May 2008.
Guardian.co.uk,
21 November 2009
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