Chelsea
should try and persuade interim manager Guus Hiddink to stay at Stamford
Bridge next season, according to the
Sunday Supplement panel.
Hiddink returned to coach Chelsea for a second time in December following
the sacking of previous boss Jose Mourinho, with the champions struggling
near the foot of the Premier League.
But since the experienced Dutchman's arrival in west London, the Blues have
not lost in 10 league games - a run that has seen them move up to within a
point of the top half of the table.
The 69-year-old also had a similarly positive impact at the club after
replacing Luiz Felipe Scolari in February 2009 by winning the FA Cup.
Despite Hiddink's impressive results since taking over at Chelsea Sky Italy
say the Blues are set to appoint Azzurri head coach Antonio Conte this
summer.
The
Daily Mirror's sports columnist Andy Dunn thinks that while
Conte has the credentials to be a success at Chelsea next season - the
46-year-old won three Serie A titles in a row while in charge of Juventus
between 2012-14 - owner Roman Abramovich would be better served keeping hold
of Hiddink.
"He won three times on the spin with Juventus and is doing very well with
Italy," he told the
Sunday Supplement.
"I think on a basic level, you'll have to allow for readjustment. Even
though he is a proven, successful club manager, you would have a period of
readjustment from national coach back to club manager.
"It seems like now, and I agree, that a lot of people are saying wouldn't
the obvious solution be to try and persuade Hiddink to stay on for a little
while? But he's not going to stay on for a long, long term. Then again
Abramovich doesn't look long term. He's just the latest manager off the
designer shopping rails to a certain extent."
Conte may bring with him a track record of success from the three years he
spent managing Juve, but the Italian has a temperament more similar to
Mourinho - according to the
Sun's Shaun Custis.
"He is fairly controversial," Custis said. "He's also a fairly lively
character ... madder [than Mourinho], certainly on the touchline.
"We've had a lovely calm under Hiddink where it's almost Sven-Goran
Eriksson-like. He's calm, he's lovely, everything runs along. Look how the
players have responded; everybody's happy and this is the way to go.
"But you're talking to Hiddink in the week and ask is there any chance of
staying on and he says: 'No certainly not.' There was never any question of
him staying.
"It seems like they are going back to a guy who knows how to win, but is a
similar type of character and you think: 'This is going to be volatile
again.' Do Chelsea really want to have all that volatility again, even
though he is a winning manager?
"[Roman Abramovich] seems to swing back and forward - you have Ancelotti,
who was a wonderful, calm, authoritative figure - then Hiddink, who is
slightly less authoritative, but similarly calm figure. And then you have
Mourinho and then you have Conte. There doesn't seem to be any middle
ground."
Either way, if Conte does take the Chelsea job next season, he will need to
hit the ground running, with
The Times' Chief football writer Henry
Winter saying results will determine his future at the Bridge.
"Results will dictate everything and he'll go with the tried and trusted and
the expensive [players] probably from Italy," said Winter.
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