FA Cup - Hiddink departs with message

Eurosport - Fri, 19 Jun 15:24:00 2009

Guus Hiddink admitted Chelsea's riotous dance party after the FA Cup final was the perfect way to end his brief reign but the departing Blues manager wants his side's victory over Everton to signal a more sedate period at Stamford Bridge.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 FA Cup Chelsea players celebrate with Guus Hiddink - 0

Hiddink joined Chelsea's stars in a wild dressing room celebration at Wembley on Saturday, which saw even Roman Abramovich lose his inhibitions and throw a few shapes alongside Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel and company.

A first trophy for two years does that kind of thing to a club who had grown used to such occasions during Jose Mourinho's reign.

But, while Hiddink was delighted to savour every moment of a perfect farewell before resuming his role as Russia coach on a full-time basis, the Dutchman believes it is the Mourinho era that Abramovich must recreate if Chelsea are to enjoy more champagne-soaked celebrations in the future.

Since Mourinho was eased out after a bitter power struggle in September 2007, Chelsea have been through three managers and Abramovich is set to appoint a fourth, most likely Milan's Carlo Ancelotti, in the next week.

Hiddink believes that constant change has had a negative effect on the players and he wants Abramovich to stick with his new man for the good of the squad.

"We had a nice dance party with everyone participating, the players and the staff," Hiddink said. "We have a multi-cultural squad and you must see the African players; to see Essien break-dance is a joy.

"I did some good moves, the African way. At least that's what I was thinking!

"Roman danced with us. He is not a man of many words but he was in the middle of the party.

"It was emotional in the dressing room because we were aiming for this cup.

"We had this beautiful African dance, then I gathered the players and technical staff in another room because I won't get another opportunity now to speak to them.

"I gave a five minute speech to thank them in a rather emotional way for the way we have worked together in the last four months.

"Now I think stability is a big need for the club. They have had too many changes in the past years and they recognise that themselves.

"They need a long-term strategy so that they can build a team and keep up their high performance.

"The players know what they are capable of. This victory might be the foundation for the future. They have shown they can do it."

After falling behind to Louis Saha's 25 second opener, the fastest goal in FA Cup final history, Chelsea gradually overpowered Everton.

Didier Drogba equalised with a header from Florent Malouda's cross in the 21st minute and Frank Lampard gave Chelsea their fifth FA Cup when he drove a long-range shot past Tim Howard after 72 minutes.

Hiddink refused to rule out managing another Premier League club, or even Chelsea, in the future, but for now he will visit his father before focusing on leading Russia to the 2010 World Cup finals.

He will always have a place in the hearts of Chelsea's players and fans after one of the most successful caretaker manager spells of all-time.

When Hiddink replaced Luiz Felipe Scolari in February he took over a squad in danger of stagnating, but his direct, open approach produced a run of just one defeat in his 22 matches.

And were it not for some dubious decisions by referee Tom Henning Ovrebo in the Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona, Hiddink would have taken Chelsea to two finals.

He admitted that controversial defeat was the only disappointment of his time in England.

"It would have been even more perfect if we had been somewhere a few days ago playing in another big final," Hiddink said.

"That is the only regret I have. I would have loved to play Man Utd in the Champions League final, but it did not happen.

"I feel sadness to be leaving because the attitude from everyone was superb. On the other hand leaving with silverware gives a feeling of satisfaction.

"This is the best way. You can say goodbye easier with a cup."

AFP

Comment 27 - 46 of 66

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  1. gus hiddink must officially be everyones favoirate­ manager

    From Jimmyrice man u are champs again, on Sun 31 May 12:34PM
  2. with a team like chelsea, any decent manager will do­ well. Ask hiddink to manage villa, tottenham,­ fulham,everton,west ham or even arsenal!!! he wont be­ among the top ten, he showed weakness while managing­ psv. wenger, moyes o'neil,zola and filham's­ manager are winners despite winning nothing.

    From ftsg, on Sun 31 May 12:33PM
  3. teach those overhyped stars how to come back from a­ goal down and win.viva hiddink.

    From onyeka j, on Sun 31 May 12:31PM
  4. telbeddows, so your saying there is a lot of jealous­ man utd fans, why, because man utd did not win the fa­ cup?
    So wouldn't Chelsea fans prefer to win the­ league than the fa cup?
    Why is that a team wins the fa­ cup against a very under strenth Everton team and­ suddenly they are the best team in the world.
    Chelsea­ could be thge team to replace man utd at the top, but­ only is they take notice of what Hiddink has said and­ take time to build, instead of continuing to try to buy­ the league - as in, spending a fortune on new managers­ and players every year, the money man won't keep­ spending for many more years.
    Once Fergie retires man­ utd will most likely fade as Liverpool did.

    From clive V, on Sun 31 May 12:30PM
  5. definatly agree with post 44 about the fans attitude.­ im not a liverpool fan but if i compare liverpool­ singing to chelsea there is a big difference. lol to­ post 42 since i am a man city fan

    From J Bails, on Sun 31 May 12:29PM
  6. congrats to chelsea... but yesterday i went to london­ with my family from overseas for having london tour. We­ were on the topless bus company mainly travel by­ trourists, i am disgusted of chelsea's fan attitude­ by throwing all the celery buds to us when the bus­ passing by the crowds. I have no idea the reasons­ behind that as we knew how obssesive they are to the­ team except it showed to the world how uneducated and­ fierce the are. gosh no respect to them. please dont­ do that again as it is not nice.thanks

    From aliza, on Sun 31 May 12:22PM
  7. Jovinile (Post #40) - Wow, where to begin. Yes, Hiddink­ took over at the perfect time, and it gave the team a­ bounce immediately. Yes, the thought that Anelka and­ Drogba can't play together is wrong. I'm not­ saying Chelsea fans don't have passion for their­ club, where are you getting these crazy ideas from?­ I'm only saying, he's getting way too much­ credit. And I really don't know how knowledgable­ Scolari is to be honest, his claim to fame is the World­ Cup win with Brazil. There's another squad that­ anyone should be able to win with. Yes, I knew about­ Ferguson almost getting sacked early on, thanks for the­ info on that. And I don't know why people are­ saying Chelsea would have beaten Man United in the­ final. Yeah, it's a final and a one-off game, but­ Man United did the double over Chelsea this season, if­ I'm not mistaken. Chelsea still could have beaten­ them, but the stats aren't on their side.

    From gene_hackman_stunt_double, on Sun 31 May 12:13PM
  8. Lots of very jealous man utd fans here, Dont worry when­ fergie retires and your club is finished you can all­ come and follow the chelsea, just like you all did when­ liverpool stopped winning things and you went over to­ man utd.

    From telbeddows, on Sun 31 May 12:07PM
  9. To Paul S (Post #36) - Actually nobody saw Chelsea beat­ Barcelona, as Barcelona was lifting the trophy on­ Wednesday. The refereeing was dodgy, they should have­ had a penalty for the Pique handball if nothing else,­ but they didn't take the chances they had. But you­ Chelsea fans can live in denial and blame the refs­ until next year. Was Chelsea hard done by? Absolutely­ yes. But get on with it and stop your @#$%.
    Plucky­ Everton huh. A team that has had no fit striker for the­ last 3 months and have a squad that is paper thin with­ youngsters on the bench every game. Everton ran out of­ gas near the end of game, a good strike by Lampard­ settled it, really wasn't all that convincing of a­ victory considering how much possession they had and­ how much better their team is. Good spirit to come back­ from one down though, but I don't think I'd­ credit Hiddink for that. Yeah, Chelsea players are­ model professionals, you must visit Amsterdam a lot­ with that kind of logic.

    From gene_hackman_stunt_double, on Sun 31 May 12:03PM
  10. (From the guy who made comment 31).....Ur the muppet­ not Chelsea fans!! Anyone cud see when Hiddink took­ over was the perfect time, Chelsea needed a life line­ which was right infront of them(Hiddink) now since­ Scolari cudnt show any improvements to the squad he was­ exposed to, ie with his low key suggestions that Drogba­ and Anelka cant play together and hiddink proved him­ wrong make Scolari a big time @#$% and not chelsea­ fans,and who ru to question our passion for the­ Club.....
    Im pretty much sure despite Scolari's­ failure hes still knowledgable enuf as far as footie is­ concerned compare to you( the real muppet) its just­ sometimes in footie @#$% happens, and jus to remind u­ fergie wiv his achievement at MAN U.. hes the same man­ who almost got sacked at the beggining at his­ tenure.....(Atleast now u know this). And for you to­ pyuk here anyone cud have done the same as hiddink­ makes me laugh... he he....And now take it or leave it,­ if i can tell you we probably cud have done better in­ the final btn Chelsea n Barcelona than Man u( watch how­ Barcelona cudnt do @#$% wen the ycame to Stanford­ bridge...well apart from the Fluke of that goal)
    So­ jus shish....and wait for the new season u Newcastle­ dropout....well u act like one even if u aint...who­ cares.....Cmon Chelsea....the FA cup team killer....Man­ U(2007)...lol.

    From Jovinile, on Sun 31 May 12:02PM
  11. It doesnt take a great manager to do well with a team­ like chelsea or man u jesus look at the players they­ have got more than 11 world class players and nearly­ two whole teams. Let ferguson and hiddink go manage­ teams in the bottom half of the championship then see­ how great they are. Coppell for me is a great manager­ or moyes with little money they have still done very­ well.

    From Torres76, on Sun 31 May 12:01PM
  12. so the problem is who gonna continue his legacy at­ chelsea?

    From anas_luqman, on Sun 31 May 11:59AM
  13. So Chelsea have won the cup Man Utd did not bother with­ and now their fans think Chelsea are better than Man­ utd, COME ON, switch your brains on, you did not get­ into the euro final, did not win the league, yes you­ won more than Liverpool, but not more than Utd.

    From clive V, on Sun 31 May 11:56AM
  14. As all football supporters saw, Chelsea actually beat­ Barcelona in the Euro Champs League semi-finals and as­ thus would undoubtedly beaten ManUre to become the best­ club in Europe. As they showed yet again, going down­ one nil to plucky Everton in the opening minute, Guus­ Hiddinck had restored that professionalism to­ Chelsea's most professional players to allow them­ to take the game back and to win relatively easily­ within the full 90 minutes.

    From Suft 26, on Sun 31 May 11:52AM
  15. hahahahaha!
    its live-a-fool who left empty handed.

    From ManU2nd, on Sun 31 May 11:45AM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Hi fools, this is the Champione fan.
    We von the league­ de iglesa und ve lost de kleinen cup zu Barcelona.­ August wir play Chelsea for shield.

    Only two teams won­ something in the whole of england.

    Bye fools.

    From Majoser, on Sun 31 May 11:44AM
  17. ...And also, Chelsea didn't do what they had to do­ to get by Barcelona, they got knocked out, remember?­ They tried to scrape by with the skin of their teeth.­ Yes, the refereeing was dodgy, and quite a few of those­ controversial non-calls would have gone for Chelsea in­ a typical league game, but the fact remains that­ Chelsea had plenty of opportunities to put Barcelona­ away, they didn't take them, plus they had 90­ minutes at the Nou Camp in which they could have tried­ to knick an away goal, and they gambled and chose to­ sit back and defend, and unfortunately for them, it­ ended up biting them in their @#$%. Just imagine had­ Essien not made that amazing goal at the Bridge, it­ might have been a very different game. Bottom line -­ Chelsea gambled, sat back for 90 minutes and left it­ all to do at the Bridge, and didn't get it done.

    From gene_hackman_stunt_double, on Sun 31 May 11:40AM
  18. Hiddink may Almighty God continue to see you through in­ your football managing career. You have been a blessing­ to Roman Ibrahimavic, Chelsea players and we the­ chelsea fans. We all love you. cheerio

    From samuel, on Sun 31 May 11:31AM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    To John B (Post #20) - You dumb w*nker. All Chelsea­ fans are dumb w*ankers, and I'll tell you all why.­

    Chelsea could have almost literally ANYBODY come in,­ with half a footballing brain, and "coach"­ that team to success. Scolari didn't have it, or­ was stubborn, whatever the case was. Chelsea are an­ attacking team, they have about 300 million pounds­ worth of attackers, so to change Chelsea's shape­ and mentality and style of play and to play with 1­ striker is simply stupid.

    Hiddink knew that, he came­ in, threw on 3 strikers from the kick off every game,­ and what do you know, Chelsea started getting some­ results. It isn't brain surgery, it was common­ sense. And the part that makes all you Chelsea fans­ stupid is how much you admire this guy. He's done­ some great things in his career, but realistically,­ turning Chelsea's season around ranks pretty low­ among his accomplishments. It really wasn't that­ difficult. Plus he got Essien back shortly into his­ tenure, and Essien is massively underrated. Had Scolari­ had him, things may have been a little different (but­ probably not too much). Play with 3 strikers, have them­ attack, there you go, I just came to the same obvious­ conclusion that Hiddink did. You bunch of muppets.

    From gene_hackman_stunt_double, on Sun 31 May 11:28AM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    oh dear, all that money and all chelsea win is the poxy­ fa cup.

    From ALAN, on Sun 31 May 11:22AM
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