Rijkaard open for Chelsea post

[evissy]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_4909189,00.html

Frank Rijkaard's agent has told Sky Sports News that the Dutchman 'would consider' a proposal from Chelsea, although he confirmed no approach has been made as yet.

Chelsea are seeking a new manager following the shock sacking of Brazilian tactician Luiz Felipe Scolari on Monday.

A number of high-profile coaches have already been linked with the vacant post, with the latest reports suggesting former Blues boss Avram Grant could return on a short-term basis.

Rijkaard has also been mooted as a potential target, with the ex-Barcelona manager out of work since departed the Camp Nou at the end of last season.

And, speaking to Sky Sports News on Tuesday, Rijkaard's agent, Perry Overeem, has admitted the 46-year-old would be interested in a permanent role in the Premier League.

More to follow...

I think we need these in rumours section as names will drop from this day on. However if Mods think we have enough of these topics in General-area don't hesitate to delete it.

IMO Rijkaard is among the most interesting managers who is out there. He has also grown his hunger to take a big post again after huge success in Barca.

[Nibs]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_4909189,00.html

I think we need these in rumours section as names will drop from this day on. However if Mods think we have enough of these topics in General-area don't hesitate to delete it.

IMO Rijkaard is among the most interesting managers who is out there. He has also grown his hunger to take a big post again after huge success in Barca.

He had success but I would hardly call it huge. He won trophies all the time he had probably the best squad of players in Europe. Once that squad started to age and there were player problems he was as clueless as Scolari has been of late. Since he left Barca look like a different side again and will probably win the CL as well as their own league.

Rijkaard would be a dreadful appointment and I fear if he does get the job, we'll be looking for another coach in less than 12 months.

We have to go for someone like Martin O' Neill - whatever it takes.

[Tim]

Agree Nibs, the spitting Dutchman would be a very poor choice and I fear we'd be on the hunt again within the year.

I think O'Neil is just not going to leave Villa however much money we dangle, and given Lerner has been more generous than Roman recently, I don't know why he would want to leave when he is doing something really special there.

Who do I want? Honestly, it's a tough one. Moyes is obviously the other stand out young manager in the Prem, and arguably could still be a bit fed up with the relative lack of money he has to spend, but coming to CFC would not necessarily mean a different situation, just with higher expectations. He, like O'Neil is also building something good there, so whether he would want to leave it another matter.

Mancini then? Not a bad option I guess, but I confess to not knowing a huge amount about him.

[evissy]

He had success but I would hardly call it huge. He won trophies all the time he had probably the best squad of players in Europe. Once that squad started to age and there were player problems he was as clueless as Scolari has been of late. Since he left Barca look like a different side again and will probably win the CL as well as their own league.

Rijkaard would be a dreadful appointment and I fear if he does get the job, we'll be looking for another coach in less than 12 months.

We have to go for someone like Martin O' Neill - whatever it takes.

Well Rijkaard has succeeded in a big club like ours and he is still relatively young. O'neill is more of doing best what he has type of manager. I woudn't mind having him of course but you can't really tell who would be good there is so much luck involved what ever you say. O'neill is a great coach but can he handle big stars?

We could throw these names all day long and still not know who would be successful. Avram did a great job and his CV wasn't really the best out there.

[Nibs]

That's just it - I think so much of football management is down to luck. There must be some coaches out there who regularly have to pinch themselves, knowing they've ridden their luck and got one highly paid job after another.

Really don't know what seperates the very top guys from the rest. Even Fergie, Wenger and Mourinho have had their fair amount of luck along the way.

We could pick anyone of the names on the list and who's to say whether they'll do any better? It's a huge risk whoever we plump for. But we are in such a critical position now that this next appointment has to be spot on - otherwise I really do think we could go into freefall with the big name players jumping ship and CL football being a thing of the past. That's why I think we need someone really strong, who isn't going to be f**ked about by the likes of Kenyon or sulky players like Drogba and the only tow I can think of are O'Neill or we go back on bended kness with cap in hand to Mourinho. That's a big about turn for me, as I was in the camp that was not that unhappy when he left, but I am shocked at how things have deteriorated so quickly and the momentum is such that if the next appointment is a bad one, it could take us years to recover.

[Chippy]

I can't see the interest in Rijkaard, he lucked in with the Barca Job with some ordinary International managemant and a Relegation on his CV,

He had one of the best squads anywhere and it got worse under his guidance, He was a pain in the arse in the meetings we had with them and he gobs...

I would be gutted if we appointed him.

I can't understand the Club talking short term as although I liked Grant if he or anyone else is the short term choice it seems keeping Scolari until the Summer would have made more sense, whoever comes in for three months is not really gonna do anything much different and then another change in the Summer.

The more I think about who should come in the more I can't think of an ideal candidate..

It would be great to have Zola and Clarke but I don't think Zola deserves what will happen if he doesn't immiediately succeed and it's a bit early in his career, I think the lesser expectations down on the site will be a good learning curve for him.

Hughes would have been my choice after Mourinho but he has looked less than I expected at City.

Mancini is a decent Manager but a bit defensive for my liking..

Hiddink again hard to think why not but a bit old and again looks short term to me.

Grant, I'd have him back but again doesn't deserve the stick he'd get here.

Moyes and O'Niel..Why would they leave the clubs they have turned into decent forces in the Premier for a club that has no respect for a manager?

whatever you thought of Scolari it seems a mad decision to sack him and again have no replacement lined up, as if he wouldn't have been asa good a caretaker manager for the next three months as anyone else, it could have been done quitely and with more dignity at the end of the season.

[callista]

Don't want to throw cold water on Rykaard, but what the hell I will.

After he left and Pep Guardiola came in it was apparent that Pep's first job had been to correct many of the failings of the Rykaard regime.

Off the top of my head I can recall a couple of things that the journalist who follows Spanish football week in week out said after talking to insiders on the team, so here goes.

1. Rykaard's training was lazy, it wasn't antiquated but the players were left to do as they pleased and because of this they were unfit.

2. He had allowed big ego's to take control of the dressing room and he had seemed either unwilling or unable to do anything about stamping on it. He's the players "friend" and finds it difficult to rule with a rod of iron which sometimes you need to do.

3. He didn't actually have a Plan B if anything was really going wrong. It was more of a case of the players brilliance getting him out of things than anything he did on the pitch to change things.

This was expecially the case towards the last season of his regime.

So for all the hype about Barca and the great football they played, I think it was a case for him of being in the right place at the right time.

Now don't get me wrong I realise that being in the right place at the right time can work for you but Rykaard would be coming to this team at the wrong time.

And I think if he was employed after the initial euphoria had died down you would find the rot setting in with the same problems that he had at Barca (unless he has learnt some harsh lessons of course in the meantime) and we would be searching for another manager in about another year or two.

And remember he has to get used to our league, no easy task.

[Chippy]

Callista

a bit of a personal question I know but where all friends here..

If Avram comes back do you think you'll be picking up where you left off?

[b00gamaster]

So for all the hype about Barca and the great football they played, I think it was a case for him of being in the right place at the right time.

I think the same thing should be said about Grant as well - the results last season (runners up to PL and CL titles) have to do more with Steve Clarke and our players quality rather than Grant's managerial skills

[Chippy]

I think the same thing should be said about Grant as well - the results last season (runners up to PL and CL titles) have to do more with Steve Clarke and our players quality rather than Grant's managerial skills

So why do you think Scolari struggled with the same players plus a couple of decent additions?

[bjd]

So why do you think Scolari struggled with the same players plus a couple of decent additions?

Because he was clueless and incompetent ?

[Chippy]

Because he was clueless and incompetent ?

Who asked you

[bjd]

Who asked you :D

Fair enough. New day, new beginning.

[b00gamaster]

So why do you think Scolari struggled with the same players plus a couple of decent additions?

Well, again the departure of Steve Clarke was vital. I also believe that the players had that Mourinho "charge" in them which has expired by the end of last season.

As far as the decent additions go - Deco is not one and Bosingwa was never a good defender - he was decent providing width against weaker teams, but that's it.

[Tim]

Nibs I do agree with you (again) on the luck side of things.

Now I do not think Scolari was the right man for the job, for many reasons, but I do feel we haven't quite got the rub of the green this season, as we often did under Jose, and that had we done so it might have at least prolonged his tenure until the end of the season.

Evidence i can cite off the top of my head includes...

Frank's sending off vs L*verpool. Ridiculous decision and meant we were never honestly going to win the game, which is what we needed to still have any title chances

The handball vs Hull. Tight game, hard to break down an opposition only looking for a point, and we are denied a clear penalty.

Van Persie's goal at the Bridge to make it 1-1. It was clearly offside, by a fair bit, and up to that point we were 1-0 up and easily containing them.

Now I know that all teams suffer from their fair share of good and bad luck, but I just feel that a new manager needs a few things to go their way when the team is not quite clicking, and that sackings often rest on whether that happens or not.

Let's hope the new man gets a few breaks so we can regain at least a bit of the swagger we used to have.

[smileysmiles]

For those saying Rijkaard just inherited a good team he took barcelona from near the relegation zone to runners up. hardly inheriting a good team. He then went on to build a team around Ronaldinho and won everything in sight for 2 years. for 2 years they then had a lull, during which Rijkaard was asked to step down.... If he could take us to 3rd this season and then win what he did with barcelona for the two years after, I would take the two year lull.

[Chippy]

Well, again the departure of Steve Clarke was vital. I also believe that the players had that Mourinho "charge" in them which has expired by the end of last season.

As far as the decent additions go - Deco is not one and Bosingwa was never a good defender - he was decent providing width against weaker teams, but that's it.

We disagree mate but I'm used to that, If a Mourinho charge is good enough to carry a team for nine months and to a CL final what the f**k was happening in the last season he was with us? you'd think we'd have walked the CL and the league on that thought.

and I never said Bosingwa was a good defender..I said he was a decent signing.

[b00gamaster]

We disagree mate but I'm used to that, If a Mourinho charge is good enough to carry a team for nine months and to a CL final what the f**k was happening in the last season he was with us? you'd think we'd have walked the CL and the league on that thought.

Probably not the most logical explanation :lol: but I just find it hard to believe that charisma-less Grant with no proper managerial experience made such an impact.

and I never said Bosingwa was a good defender..I said he was a decent signing.

Fair enough..

[Qaz]

Charisma may impress the fans, but its much lower on the list of factors which gets results on the pitch.

Me and Chippy generally defended Grant because we looked past his lack of charisma to his solid results.

[g3.7]

what's the difference between rijkaard's work at barca and jose's with us? other than he was allowed to linger on a bit too long after his methods ceased to be effective with that group of players.

barca were in a big mess before he went there (although due credit should also go to raddy antic and laporta), and it's easy to forget that- no rijkaard, and the current barca side would not be what it is. I don't think, and never have thought, that rijkaard was ever a particularly special manager, but he deserves all the credit he gets for his success there, and overall he was a big success in both the long and short term history of barcelona.