“Big Phil” Scolari New Chelsea Manager

Finally, Chelsea have put us all out of our misery and have agreed a deal with the current Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari to become the new boss at Stamford Bridge on 1st July, basically following Euro 2008. Will Big Phil turn up in West London as the the winning manager?   Personally I don’t think so, that’s the kiss of death then!  Watch Portugal now romp home to the title! 

Anyway, Scolari has accepted the offer to replace Avram Grant, who of course replaced Jose "The Special One" last Setpember.  Big Phil certainly knows what he has to do, doesn’t he!  Grant  nearly won the League Cup, the Premier League and the Champions League.  The important word in that last sentence is of course "nearly".

Luiz Felipe Scolari, Portugal’s current manager who will be Chelsea’s new boss once Euro 2008 is over

 A statement from the club read as follows:

 "Chelsea Football Club is delighted to confirm that Luiz Felipe Scolari will be the club’s new manager from July 1, 2008.

"Felipe has great qualities. He is one of the world’s top coaches with a record of success at country and club level, he gets the best out of a talented squad of players and his ambitions and expectations match ours.

 "He was the outstanding choice.

 "Out of respect for his current role as Head Coach of the Portuguese national team, and to ensure minimum disruption to this work, there will be no further comment from Chelsea FC nor from Felipe about his new role until his employment with us commences."

Since sacking Grant last month, Chelsea had been linked with a string of high-profile coaches across the continent.

I thought that Carlo Ancelotti was always the favourite for the role before he ended up confirming his intention to stay in the AC Milan hot seat.

Former Chelsea striker Mark Hughes was also understood to have been a contender before opting to leave Blackburn Rovers for Eastlands and Manchester City.

Other names rumoured to have been in the frame included Guus Hiddink who is currently coaching the Russian team, Sven Goran Eriksson who looks like he is off to sunny Mexico, Roberto Mancini who no one knows where he is off to, Frank Rijkaard, ex Barcelona similarly and Luciano Spalletti from Roma.

Scolari has yet to coach at club level in Europe, but won the Copa Libertadores during stints in charge of Gremio and Palmeiras.

He certainly has credentials.  He led Brazil to World Cup success in 2002 before later taking on the Portugal job and leading the host nation to the final of Euro 2004. Both times beating England!

The 59-year-old had been in the running to replace Eriksson as England coach in 2006 before deciding to stay with Portugal because he didn’t like the media intrusion by the English tabloids.   Well he must have gotten over that particular fear then, because they are going to be all over his back as the new man in the hot seat at Chelsea!

 Good luck Phil!  That’s what I say.

The Soccer Blogger