After seeing Chelsea’s sorry, pitiful performance against Manchester United at Old Trafford, I am sure helpless Chelsea fans are wondering what the deal is with finding a the permanent replacement for Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.  Lets see…  you fire your coach after winning 2 Premiership titles, 1 FA Cup and 2 League Cups in 3 years.   Will there be anything permanent with the new coach ?  Roman Abramovich is another rich owner that clearly has no clue about football / soccer .   The Chelsea slide is only just beginning.

Here’s whom I have heard as possible replacements and my thoughts:

Jürgen Klinsmann:  Klinsmann’s incredible playing career got him the Germany national team job for the 2006 World Cup.  While he was hailed by the German faithful as doing a great job finsihing 3rd and saving German soccer, I saw it a little different.  In the 2002 World Cup led by Rudi Voller, they finished 2nd.  Does anyonre remember that ?  Yet, no one hailed Voller as a hero like they did Klinsmann.  My point here is he has done nothing as a coach, to show me he can be an effective coach Chelsea given his performance with Germany in the 2006 World Cup.

Marco van Basten:  Same as Klinsmann ..  incredible player, in fact one of my favorites, but as a coach, just has not proven it with Holland who with their talent, should be one of the best in the world.  Not only has the national team under his leadership under achieved, but he has formed bad relationships with several of the top Dutch players, some of whom have either been prematurely dropped or have refused to play with Van Basten as manager.  This is not what you want from a manager of a top club.  You need a manager that want to play and win for you at all cost.  Van Basten is not the answer.

Guus Hiddink:  At this point, of all the names of possible successors, Hiddink is by far the best candidate.  Most recently, he has been successful with South Korea leading them to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup, leading PSV Eindhoven to the semi-finals of the Champions League while managing the Australian national team thru 2006 World Cup qualifying.  Currently, has Russia in contention of qualifying for Euro 2008.   Hiddink seems to find a way to get the best of out his plaers and he has a proven winning record.  Also, he seems to have a good relationship with dumbass Abramovich which doesn’t hurt.