How important is it for us to appoint someone pretty quickly? When do you think RA will finally announce who he has gone for? It may turn out to be good for us that England are not in Euro 08 even though some of our players will be there, the majority will not. It is approximately 11 weeks till the season starts so hopefully the new manager will have plenty of time to bed in.

The longer the club takes to get the right man, the longer the club will remain in a period of instability.

How would this instability effect people like Lampard who are due to make contract decisions now?

I can't see anyone making a decision to join Chelsea whilst this instability remains and worse, others like Lamps would find it harder to commit any future without knowing who the manager will be...

The longer the club takes to get the right man, the longer the club will remain in a period of instability.

How would this instability effect people like Lampard who are due to make contract decisions now?

I can't see anyone making a decision to join Chelsea whilst this instability remains and worse, others like Lamps would find it harder to commit any future without knowing who the manager will be...

The quicker the club takes to get the wrong man, the longer the club will remain in a period of instability.

The quicker the club takes to get the wrong man, the longer the club will remain in a period of instability.

Agreed but, getting the wrong man can be done very quickly or they can ponder this for weeks and, still choose the wrong man... either way the wrong choice as next appointment will see the current instability continue and, remaining in the current state is going to cause short/medium term damage to the club, most notable example being Lampard's contract decision.

i dont think lampards contract should be amajor consideration with the speed of appointment of the new manager. thsi has to be a manager tothat will hopefully stay long term. so however long it takes is fine by me, as long as they get it right. i think lampard has made his mind up and doubt the new manager will sway him. i hope its to stay at the bridge, but if it isnt then so be it.

Question is if they have yet to find 'the right man' ( and I hope they do ) who is making decisions on player transfers into the club in the meantime.. ??? It has already been mentioned that we have our eye on a few players and if / when Drogba moves on at least one of them will have to be a striker...

And if the transfer targets are not being picked by the Manager it's going to be a case of here is what we got you in over the summer go and make it work...

A decision will need to be made sooner rather than later for the sake of the new bloke as I am pretty sure he would have his own ideas of who he wants to bring in,keep,change, and transfer out... the longer it goes on the less chance he will have to be involved....

all though its doing me head in, the not knowing, especially with all the rumours

i think the new manager will be in place from the 1st week in june

the majority of the players are away on international duty, so any contract talks will be on hold until they return

hopefully the long delay in putting in the new manager means that the club is making the right choice

all though its doing me head in, the not knowing, especially with all the rumours

i think the new manager will be in place from the 1st week in june

the majority of the players are away on international duty, so any contract talks will be on hold until they return

hopefully the long delay in putting in the new manager means that the club is making the right choice

Morning Mr C....

all though its doing me head in, the not knowing, especially with all the rumours

i think the new manager will be in place from the 1st week in june

the majority of the players are away on international duty, so any contract talks will be on hold until they return

hopefully the long delay in putting in the new manager means that the club is making the right choice

Morning Mr C....

hiya bluewolf

My feelings are also that we will see a decision being made as to the new manager at Chelsea within the week.

The decision may have been made before Roman went away.

They must have known prior to last week that Grant wasn't going to carry on.

If it was someone who is currently unemployed I'm sure they'd have announced it by now, or that person would at least be over here looking for property.

Or perhaps Roman is still courting with every name in would football for advise on who to appoint

With Ten Cate being sacked, it looks like the decision has been made.

The new manager obviously wants to bring in his own backroom staff. Otherwise, there was no reason to sack Ten Cate less that a week after declaring that his job was safe.

I think if it is Mancini or Hughes (or the now-unlikely Rikjaard) we will hear about in the next couple of days, as soon as they have nutted out their contract.

If the delay is any longer, I would think it would be because we are waiting on a manager who is coaching at the Euro's and doesn't want a public announcement to upset his team - then the money would be on Scolari, with Hiddink as a very outside chance now.

Hughes is still pretty much the only manager who has been linked, but hasn't commented to the press. I don't know if that means something or not.

If Clarkey is going to go then I would say the new guy is Mancini, who would want an overhaul of the staff. But if Clarkey is staying, I think it would be Sparky. In either case, an announcement cannot be far off. But I agree with TomP that if we are still waiting when the Euros start then Scolari may be in the frame big time. I honestly can't see it being Hiddink at all. Why would Ten Cate have gone in such a case?

OK, I'm going to stick my neck out and you'll all hate me, and I'll hate me too I really think we're getting Mancini with how things are shaping up. I think the 'sacking' by Moratti was just as much of a soap opera as ours was of Grant.

Talk me out of it everybody. Italophile as I am, I really am not sure about old Roberto.

If Clarkey is going to go then I would say the new guy is Mancini, who would want an overhaul of the staff. But if Clarkey is staying, I think it would be Sparky. In either case, an announcement cannot be far off. But I agree with TomP that if we are still waiting when the Euros start then Scolari may be in the frame big time. I honestly can't see it being Hiddink at all. Why would Ten Cate have gone in such a case?

OK, I'm going to stick my neck out and you'll all hate me, and I'll hate me too I really think we're getting Mancini with how things are shaping up. I think the 'sacking' by Moratti was just as much of a soap opera as ours was of Grant.

Talk me out of it everybody. Italophile as I am, I really am not sure about old Roberto.

Just for you Lady Die

source: http://www.cfcnet.co.uk/2008/05/30/rumours...est-its-sparky/

Story:

Place your bets. I’ve heard our new manager will be Mark Hughes.

At my journalist workplace, at a UK press agency, we get fed all sorts of rumours, many of which I can’t publish because either they’ll damage the individuals concerned; or damage CFCnet’s relationship with the Club; or risk me getting sued. I certainly never, ever pass on information that will damage our players, that’s my number one rule. The players are sacrosanct to me.

However, with Avram gone, it’s time to tell all. Why not? The Season’s over and it’s time I put out a few press agency tidbits.

Firstly, Avram Grant, Israel’s golden balls. Well, I heard a long time ago that Avram was considered by the players as a decent enough fella. However, with no playing history and a fairly junior management CV, he couldn’t command the respect of the first team. Imagine, the Captains of Ukraine, England, West Germany and Ivory Coast along with a host of other internationals taking orders from him? He just couldn’t command the player’s respect and was elevated too high too quickly.

In addition there was distrust over his role in Jose’s dismissal. Avram knew he’d be the next manager of Chelsea as far back as Jan 2007 (allegedly) so all the while he was sitting on Jose’s shoulder he knew he’d be taking over sooner rather than later. The fact that the Club never deemed fit to appoint another Director of Football says it all.

Six weeks ago there was an insurrection at the training ground and whilst I can’t go into details because it involves players, all I’ll say is that the first team threatened en masse to play in the reserves. That was the beginning of the end of Avram because he lost authority and the players made it clear to the Club’s board they wanted a new manager. Avram knew it as well and we’ve heard rumours since that he had an interview with another major Premier League Club before the Champions League Final. The Club in questions rhymes with City.

Avram’s also (allegedly) been a naughty boy. Keen on the good life I’ve heard from three separate sources about his penchant for (allegedly) ‘adult fun’. I never published the information because I didn’t want to create problems for him or the Club. However, I tried to hint at the story and in November CFCnet published an article on my instruction alluding to Avram’s liking of the, ahem, good life and the laydeez. I was certain the stories would come out prior to the Champs League Final, however, I’ve now learnt that the girls involved are (allegedly) coming clean in this weekend’s News of the World. We’ll see.

As for our new manager, there are two prime candidates. I heard six weeks ago that Hiddink was a done deal and that could still be the case because the Club or Guus can’t be seen to sanction a move prior to Euro 2008 - the Russians would go mad.

Since then, however, we’ve now heard that the Club are increasingly favouring Mark Hughes. Not only has he has all the credentials but remember he has the tremendous goodwill of the fans for his contribution to us lifting our first trophy in 26 years. Who can forget the 1997 Sparky display against Liverpool in the FA Cup? Or the winning goal to send us through in the European Cup Winners Cup Semi against Vicenza in 1998? Also, remember Sparky is a Chelsea fan from his boyhood days.

The only black mark, if you can call it that, is that Mark Hughes is still quite young in a managerial sense. Apparently this is the sticking point over which the Club are still debating. Still, they debated for years over Fernando Torres and everyone’s got egg on their faces over that except ‘Pool.

Forget Rijkaard (Ten Cate’s sacking means that Rijkaard is a no go) and forget Mancini (apart from Leicester for ten games, he has no English experience).

It’s going to be Sparky and I’d love him to be in the hot seat. He’s a Chelsea man through and through and it would sure as hell piss United off. That’ll do!

Thanks for that, Scott. I just hope it's true. I'd settle for Sparky, even though I knocked him off my Christmas list when his lot kicked seven kinds of s**t out of us at Ewood in 2005! I've forgiven him now. I will never, ever, ever, forgive Rijkaard.

But when the CFCnet lads say that Mancini has little English experience...ahem...what English experience did a certain Special One have?

Well, let's hope and pray....