Nov 21

Guus Hiddink still in touch with Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich

• Dutchman plans to take time off after failing at Turkey
• I am always welcome at Cobham, Hiddink claims

Guus Hiddink has revealed he is still in touch with the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich but the Dutchman has no plans to make a swift return to the game after leaving his post as Turkey coach.

Hiddink had his contract terminated by the Turkish Football Federation by mutual consent last week, after they failed to qualify for Euro 2012, with reports in England speculating that would lead to a return to Stamford Bridge – Hiddink took over from the sacked Luiz Felipe Scolari in February 2009 and led them in a caretaker capacity, winning the FA Cup that year.

Talk intensified following Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, which increased the pressure on the incumbent André Villas-Boas, but the 65-year-old Hiddink’s short-term plan is to take time off.

Asked if he had received an offer from Chelsea, Hiddink, speaking before Sunday’s game, told RT, the Russian English-language news service: “No, I was contracted to the Turkish Federation at the time. The relationship [with Abramovich] was and has been and will be very good. When I go to London I am always welcome at Cobham [Chelsea's training ground] and the stadium.

“We don’t speak every week but every now and then there is contact and I feel very welcome always. I will take some time off and we will see what the future brings.

“I have made a decision to stop the previous job and then one must take some time to reflect and look where there is a prestigious project, not just football but also through other things where I can help somewhere. I haven’t agreed anything with anyone because I was in Turkey. That’s why I will take my time to settle down and reflect on what to do.

“Whether it’s nothing because I am 65 and can retire [I don't know] but I feel I have enough energy to go on and what the future brings, we will see.”

Hiddink has also been linked with a return to Russia – he coached the national team from 2006-10, combining briefly the role with his job at Chelsea – to link up with the big-spending club, Anzhi Makhachkala.

“There is deep affection from my side and frequent contact with all kinds of people in Russia, which I like very much,” Hiddink added. “I have heard it [Anzhi's project] from the outside but it is a prestigious project. I like the project because there must be a good football team. It’s not just football, it’s nice for a region [Dagestan] which is still living in poverty.”

Guus HiddinkChelseaRoman AbramovichTurkeyguardian.co.uk

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Nov 20

Clock ticks for André Villas-Boas as Guus Hiddink waits in the shadows | Richard Williams

Roman Abramovich may be compelled to act sooner rather than later if it appears Chelsea are heading for the Europa League

The old immutable law of the ex ensured that Glen Johnson would be the man to pop up with the late winner that helped his current club beat his old employers on Sunday. It is a law that was never likely to apply to Fernando Torres, who was granted only a fleeting appearance in the final stages but still managed to convey the impression of a man out of touch with whatever qualities persuaded Roman Abramovich to spend £50m to take him to Stamford Bridge last January.

In a dozen attempts, Chelsea have still not managed to beat a Liverpool team managed by Kenny Dalglish. A 1-0 defeat in the equivalent fixture last season, when Torres made a spectacularly hapless debut a few days after his arrival at Stamford Bridge, did no good to Carlo Ancelotti’s hopes of remaining at the club that he had led to a league and FA Cup Double the previous season. Now there is the question of how long André Villas-Boas, his expensively acquired successor, can cling on to the position.

Three of Chelsea’s last four league matches in the past month have ended in varying forms of ignominy. The representatives of a club into which the owner has poured around £750m would not have expected to lose by the only goal to the newly promoted Queens Park Rangers at humble Loftus Road. The subsequent 5-3 home defeat at Arsenal’s hands would have been simply unthinkable during the reign of José Mourinho, whose achievements his fellow Portuguese was employed to emulate.

Mourinho drew criticism towards the end of his time in London for sending out teams that played with a pragmatism inappropriate to the amount of money lavished on assembling their components, not to mention out of sync with the owner’s desire to see attractive football, but in his time there were plenty of 4-0 wins and absolutely no outright humiliations of the sort inflicted by Arsène Wenger’s players.

That was followed by a 1-0 victory at Ewood Park, at a time when beating Blackburn Rovers is no indication of a team’s quality. And then, following the international break, came this calamitous last-minute collapse, the result of the sort of indiscipline that would have had Mourinho frothing at the mouth. Abramovich paid Porto £13m in compensation for allowing Villas-Boas to leave before the end of his contract. Had he stayed, no doubt he would have maintained the extraordinary success of his first season, when his players won four trophies, including the Europa League, and went through the Portuguese league season unbeaten. But winning the Europa Cup at the age of 33 is not the same as winning the European Cup at 41, as Mourinho did.

“The owner did not pay €15m to get me out of Porto to pay another fortune to get me out of here,” Villas-Boas said on Sunday night, with more bravado than realism. If Abramovich is not distracted from football matters by his attempt to convince the high court that it would be wrong to order him to pass over a substantial part of his bank balance to his former partner Boris Berezovsky, he will think nothing of paying whatever amount of compensation is stipulated in his young manager’s contract. This is a man who shocked the art world by spending £63m at auction on works by Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud three years ago, smashing records of all kinds in order to please his girlfriend.

Over Villas-Boas’s shoulder lurks the shadow of Guus Hiddink, newly unemployed as a result of Turkey’s inability to make it through last week’s Euro

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Oct 22

Neighbours on the move: Chelsea and QPR and the battle for new grounds

West London rivals want to move from their old stadiums, but suitable sites are at a premium

Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea – long-standing west London rivals – collide again on Sunday at Loftus Road for the first time in the league for 15 years. But there is now added dimension to the clubs’ mutual antipathy – with each in a race to grab one of the few available sites for a new stadium in the Hammersmith and Fulham borough they share.

Greater monetary yield, as ever in the Premier League, is the catalyst for the clubs’ expansion plans. Chelsea gaze with envy at Arsenal’s financial transformation since moving to the 60,000-seat Emirates in 2006 and at the 75,000 plus who can now watch Manchester United at Old Trafford. QPR note how Sunderland and Stoke City’s new builds allowed them to reap more funds from their fan base.

Tony Fernandes, QPR’s new owner, wants a move away from Loftus Road but not out of what he calls “a fantastic area”. If the Malaysian businessman, who bought the club in the summer, can raise the cash and secure the land, the next step is relatively simple. Neil Warnock, the manager, says: “We’re already talking about a new stadium. Tony is one of those owners who, with the other shareholders, just want to get there yesterday.”

Chelsea are aware of his ambitions and want to move fast. Yet for their oligarch proprietor, Roman Abramovich, the scenario is complex. The club insists that no definitive decision has been made to move. If they do, plots have been identified, with an area next to Battersea power station the current favourite, and sites at Earl’s Court and White City other options. Earl’s Court is the club’s preference, on the north site, as it is the closest to Stamford Bridge, and would allow fans to continue their current pre- and post-match rituals. If Capco, which owns Earl’s Court, is willing to reopen talks with Chelsea then the club would gladly accept the chance.

Abramovich’s first challenge, though, is to buy back the freehold on Stamford Bridge so that the land can be developed to raise funds. To do this he needs to convince the Chelsea Pitch Owners that there is no wish to relocate any further away than a three-mile radius. Chelsea insist they want to stay close to their roots. If they are to move then the deadline for one of the sites is 2020, they say. This, Chelsea contends, is due to the

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