On the face of it, the appointment of Guus Hiddink as Chelsea boss is the sort of move that will have lifted the spirits of any supporter of the club, and one which will have led many football enthusiasts throughout the country to nod sagely with approval. For there are a handful of coaches out there who have the respect that the Dutchman's name commands. Since the turn of the millennium, Hiddink has enjoyed outstanding success; a national hero in South Korea for his part in their 2002 world cup campaign (admittedly aided by home advantage and some of the most catastrophic refereeing ever seen); three league titles in four years at PSV Eindhoven plus a Champions League semi final; leading Australia to the knockout stages of the 2006 World Cup; and most recently guiding Russia to the semis of Euro 2008. The latter saw, following the return to the side of Arsenal newboy Andrei Arshavin, some scintillating play right out of the annals of the great Dutch tradition, Total Football.
So why on earth hasn't Hiddink been offered a job as prestigious as this one sooner?
The answer I think lies partly with the man himself. Hiddink's recent international jobs have all involved him starting with sides which either had low expectations (South Korea) or who were grossly underachieving (Australia and Russia). Importantly, if any of these posts had gone t***-up, it would have been unlikely to impact on that huge reputation of his - expectations in Russia were high but it was seen as a difficult job, one where any failure on his part could have easily been blamed on the federation itself. Meanwhile, the PSV post came at a time where the other traditional powerhouses of Dutch football, Ajax and Feyenoord, were hitting real downers, while the side's initial success led to an influx of cash from European qualification and inevitable improvement in the squad.
But it's easy to forget that Hiddink has been around longer than just the last decade. And he has been in top jobs before, most notably a spectacular failure at Real Madrid where he was sacked in 1999 after just seven months. Excepting his efforts in taking the Netherlands to within a penalty shoot out of the 1998 world cup final, he has at club level achieved markedly little outside his home country, despite various spells in Spain and Turkey.
Only the most hardened anti-Chelsea (or anti-Abramovich) fan, however, would wish disaster on him. Hiddink's reputation as one of the great tacticians of modern football is well founded, having achieved success with pretty much every formation one can think of. As Russia manager he did for Steve McClaren's England with three at the back, then at the Euros changed system almost from game to game, coming unstuck only against the irepressible Spain. Not only that, but the Russians were an absolute joy to watch, happy to play an open, expansive style.
Translate those achievements to the Premier League, and the future does look rosy for Chelsea. But the man needs time. He has to spend the rest of the season working with a squad that is essentially Mourinho's and Scolari's, and which, as this writer has bemoaned previously, is hopelessly deficient in certain areas. They need a miracle to win the title, especially as they no longer have the chance to take points off Manchester United and Liverpool. Give him a decent transfer budget in the summer, and the Blues could be back where they were two years ago.
However, in the meantime, can Hiddink delve into his magic box of tactical tricks and produce a system that gives this current side width, and/or gets Anelka and Drogba working as a pairing? Now that would be one heck of a result.
L.
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