Dutchman shock favourite for Chelsea job
Marco van Basten is the surprise early favourite to succeed Carlo Ancelotti as Roman Abramovich's seventh manager in eight years as Chelsea owner, despite appearing to have the least convincing CV of the leading candidates for the job.
The Dutch legend led the Holland side that lit up the group stage of Euro 2008 only to make a swift exit once the knockout stages got underway and followed that with an unsuccessful season in charge of Ajax, where he failed to qualify for the Champions League, but is the [4.2] market leader.
His closest rival in the betting Andre Villas-Boas has won four more trophies in this campaign than van Basten has claimed in his entire coaching career and given his spell working under Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge, the Porto boss is a clear contender at the intriguing price of [5.9].
Guus Hiddink, widely reported to be Abramovich's preferred choice, is next in line at [6.2] yet the doubt over whether he would return to west London for a second stint is caused by his current position as Turkey manager and his reputation as a man who always tries to honour contracts.
Before the inevitable excitement of several candidates ruling themselves out and Sky Sports understanding that someone is the preferred pick of the Blues hierarchy, there are a number of outsiders that are still considered to be in with a decent shot.
Among those are Tottenham chief Harry Redknapp ([7.6]), Chelsea legend Jose Mourinho ([13.0]), former Barcelona tactician Frank Rijkaard ([15.0]) and the current Nou Camp trainer Pep Guardiola ([16.5]).
Were they right to axe Ancelotti? Who should they turn to now? Tell us below...
Published: 23 May 2011
salako samuel (May 23, 2011 9:45 AM) said:
gus hindicks is my choice
gary (May 23, 2011 11:36 AM) said:
I did not want Carlo to go, but I’m relieved he’s gone. I think many feel the same. He was a nice guy, but an average leader. We say he won the double last season, but I think the team did. I think Carlo was simply handed the Premierships best team. But this season that team hit hard times, and Carlo was unable to lift it. Yet one feels that a Ferguson or a Mourinho would have. But here we are talking about the world’s best coaches; is that fair? Well, I think it’s what Abramovich wants. And so I think Roman must be careful who he chooses. He must go for someone who is world class.