Former Chelsea boss threatens to resign
There are plenty of football supporters that find it difficult to get motivated for international breaks, especially at this tense stage of the season when their clubs are either fighting at the top of the table or scrapping for survival down at the bottom.
A fair few Chelsea fans probably belong to that group, having seen their team hit the top of the form table after months of disappointment to mount an unlikely late title charge, only to now be forced to panic that this two-week break will see momentum lost and, even worse, key players suffer injuries.
One area of interest for Blues supporters during this period is perhaps the opportunity to track the progress of popular former boss Guus Hiddink, who despite only spending three months in west London in 2009 guided them to the FA Cup and was unfortunate not to land the Champions League.
Hiddink, widely regarded as one of the modern greats of international management following periods of success with Holland, South Korea, Australia and Russia, is currently looking after the Turkish national side, though things haven't been going to plan for the veteran Dutch tactician.
Defeats to Germany and, far more shockingly, Azerbaijan have left the Euro 2008 semi-finalists third in Group A and far from certain of returning to the competition they helped light up four years ago, and Hiddink is taking the threat of failure so seriously that he has vowed to quit if things don't improve.
Turkey host second-placed Austria next Tuesday then visit wildcards Belgium in June and Hiddink has said that if they don't claim six points from those fixtures, he will be offering his resignation. They are rated [2.04] shots to make it to Ukraine and Poland however so an exit remains unexpected.
It has been suggested that if that worst-case scenario plays out, Hiddink could be reunited with his friend Roman Abramovich at Chelsea this summer, as many believe that Carlo Ancelotti will still depart Stamford Bridge despite the champions' recent revival.
Will Hiddink be forced to act on his ultimatum? Would he be an upgrade on Ancelotti at Chelsea? Share your opinions in the box below...
Published: 23 Mar 2011
Leave a comment