Chelsea
owner Roman Abramovich has been "obsessed" with Pep Guardiola, and
appointing a manager such as Massimiliano Allegri would represent a
different approach, according to Oliver Kay.
Guardiola was announced as the man to take over Manuel Pellegrini at
Manchester City in the summer when he leaves Bayern Munich, while the likes
of Juventus manager Allegri and Italy's Antonio Conte were linked with
Chelsea in the
Mail on Sunday.
The Times' Kay, speaking on
Sunday Supplement, says
Chelsea made themselves an unattractive option by sacking Mourinho in
December, leaving Guardiola to join City.
"Allegri and Conte are the two names buzzing around. Guardiola is the guy
Abramovich has been obsessed with for as long as Man City have," said Kay.
"When it came to it, they were not in the position to get him because
they've made themselves look an unappealing proposition.
"Allegri is a completely different type of manager. He's obviously a very
good manager, but they have been obsessed with Guardiola for a long, long
time.
"When are Chelsea going to appoint that manager that sees them through three
years, let alone 18 months? It just seems with Chelsea that it's always a
case of: 'Who is available?' rather than having a plan."
Current interim manager Guus Hiddink is the ninth man to take charge of
Chelsea since they first sacked Mourinho in September 2007, though the club
have won the Premier League twice as well as the Champions League and Europa
League in that period.
But the
Daily Mail's Ian Ladyman says that Chelsea's slapdash
approach to appointing and sacking managers has restricted their success in
recent years, not led to it.
"If they'd had a strategic, long-term view to managers, they probably would
have won more," Ladyman said.
"If they hadn't ran Jose out of the door the first time, I think they would
have won more. I think they've won a lot of trophies despite that strategy,
not because of that strategy.
"When Chelsea won their first title under Mourinho, when they had the money,
Sir Alex Ferguson was absolutely terrified at that point. They knew Chelsea
had United on the back-foot.
"The only reason Chelsea did not go on and dominate the way United had
previously done, was because they kept changing their manager."
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