It has been anything but a comfortable ride for the Chelsea manager and there have been casualties along the way
Player power takes many forms. It can strike over an unjust fine or even when a manager criticises performances. It can strike in the face of unfavourable training hours or because of negative tactics. Often, though, it strikes when a manager tries to change too much too
• Dutchman has 12 months left on current deal
• Compensation may be stumbling block
Chelsea are to make a formal approach to the Turkish Football Federation this week to secure the services of Guus Hiddink as manager, a move that will spark a period of negotiations over the size of the compensation package required to land the Dutchman.
Hiddink oversaw last Friday’s 1-1 draw in Belgium in a Euro 2012 qualifier, a result that kept Turkey in contention for a play-off place in Group A, and has left for his holidays having entered the final 12 months of a £4m-a-year deal. The federation admitted over the weekend that there is “uncertainty everywhere” over the 64-year-old’s future but Hiddink, although understood to be keen to return to day-to-day management at Stamford Bridge, is reluctant to resign and break his contract.
An awkward period of discussions is expected, with Chelsea keen to pay less than the £4m it may take to extricate their No1 target from the final year of his deal. The Premier League side are already compensating Carlo Ancelotti, who was sacked two years into a three-season deal, and have been stung by termination payments to the tune of £35.7m following their dismissals of José Mourinho, Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari, and their respective coaching teams.
Resolution is still anticipated long before Chelsea’s players report back for pre-season training on 4 July ahead of their friendlies with Vitesse Arnhem and Portsmouth, and a four-match tour of Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong. Reaction in Turkey to Hiddink’s apparent reluctance to commit to the final year of his deal has prompted outcry, with frustration prompting headlines such as “Good riddance Hiddink” and “Goodbye Guus” over the weekend.
It is understood that Chelsea’s priority is to recruit Hiddink as manager rather than a director of football, though there could be some flexibility in future over the parameters of his role at Stamford Bridge.
Only if they fail to reach agreement with the Turkish federation will the club turn their attentions to Mark Hughes, a popular former player at the club and available since his resignation at Fulham last week. Hughes’s agent, Kia Joorabchian, is well connected at Chelsea and said on Sunday that his client’s decision to quit Craven Cottage reflected ambitions to manage at “the top level”.
The 47-year-old would be interested in taking over at Stamford Bridge, though Chelsea’s priority remains to restore Hiddink to the club where he enjoyed a three-month spell as caretaker in 2009. “There’s a vacancy there but I’m sure they have their own planning,” said Joorabchian. “We have not spoken to them. They have not spoken to us. It’s a club Mark has played for so he knows it well, but it would be disrespectful of us to say: ‘Yes, we’d like to go there,’ or here, or whatever. It’s a case of Mark sitting on the sidelines and seeing what opportunities there will be throughout Europe.”
Meanwhile, Gokhan Tore, Chelsea’s young Turkish midfielder, is to join the exodus to Hamburg for a fee of around £1m. The defender Michael Mancienne joined the German side for £3m earlier in the week.
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• Dutchman’s agent said he would not rule out return
• Chelsea may have to wait until November for Turkey manager
The agent of Guus Hiddink has refused to rule out the Dutchman returning to club management amid reports he is the No1 target to succeed Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea.
However, Cees van Nieuwenhuizen warned the earliest Hiddink would currently be available would be October as he would not break his contract as the manager of Turkey.
There had been suggestions that Hiddink was opposed to returning to club management, with the 64-year-old more interested in becoming a sporting director. But pressed today over whether that was definitely the case, Van Nieuwenhuizen said: “I don’t know that you can say that.
“He is focusing on his job and he likes what he is doing. He said also in his column on Saturday in De Telegraaf, the Dutch newspaper, that as long as he is in the race for the European Championship with Turkey, he would continue to focus on that.
“Once that is finished, he will start thinking about his future.”
Hiddink, who won the FA Cup as caretaker manager of Chelsea in 2009, is contracted to Turkey until the end of Euro 2012 but will leave his position immediately if they fail to qualify. They currently lie third in Group A and face a crucial match with second-placed Belgium on 3 June.
Defeat would leave them four points away from a play-off spot with four games remaining and it is possible that he could be sacked.
The Turkish Football Federation recently said they would not look favourably on an approach for Hiddink, meaning Chelsea could be faced with the dilemma of waiting for him to become available – and appointing an interim manager – or looking elsewhere.
Van Nieuwenhuizen said: “I think that Chelsea have to make a decision in the shorter term rather than waiting until November.” They would also need to establish for certain whether the Dutchman would prefer to move into a sporting director role.
If so, they face competition from Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, with Ajax having already approached Hiddink about taking a place on their board.
“Johan Cruyff has also already spoken to him a couple of times in the last couple of months, because Johan is right now restructuring at Ajax,” said Hiddink’s agent. “He has been saying: ‘Maybe we can do this together.’”
Hiddink revealed in his column on Saturday that he was still acting as an adviser to the Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich. Van Nieuwenhuizen said: “I know that he has a very good relationship with some people at Chelsea and that he is every now and then talking to Roman Abramovich – but more out of a friendship that was based on the months that they spent together.”
Van Nieuwenhuizen insisted he knew nothing of reports Hiddink had recommended Marco van Basten to Abramovich as an alternative to himself as manager but confirmed the Dutchmen were in touch. “They meet each other every now and then,” he said.
That was backed up by Van Basten’s agent Perry van Overeem, whosaid: “They know each other well. But it’s a professional relationship.”
Van Overeem confirmed there had been no approach from Chelsea for his client, who has been out of work since leaving Ajax two years ago and is currently mulling over more than one offer to return to the game.
The other name featuring prominently in the speculation as a potential successor to Ancelotti is Porto’s Andre Villas-Boas. The 33-year-old distanced himself from moving to Stamford Bridge after winning the Europa League last week and he reportedly has a €15m (£13m) release clause in his contract.
Meanwhile, it is understood Ancelotti was told of his fate in thevisitors’ dressing room at Everton on Sunday. Some reports suggested that he was sacked in the tunnel by Chelsea’s chief executive, Ron Gourlay, but this appears not to have been the case.
Ancelotti travelled back with the squad from Goodison Park before saying his farewells at the club’s Cobham training base and then went out for the evening with a few senior players and members of staff.
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