Terry: expressed sympathy and admiration for Phil
but said only “two or three” of his team-mates felt the
same.
Chelsea are confident of naming Guus Hiddink as their
temporary manager this week, but the Russia coach could be taking
on more than he is bargaining for after John Terry revealed the
extent of dressing-room divisions at Stamford Bridge.
Speaking for the first time since Luiz Felipe Scolari’s shock
sacking on Monday, the Chelsea captain expressed sympathy and
admiration for the departed manager, although he added the
important caveat that only “two or three” of his team-mates felt
the same.
Terry’s carefully chosen words, as he took a detour from
discussing England’s friendly international against Spain this
evening, go some way to confirming what has long been suspected:
that a series of cliques have developed in the camp.
Terry and Frank Lampard have made a point of standing up for
Scolari, publicly and privately, all season and Ashley Cole was
also sympathetic. But the tone of Terry’s comments suggests that
the rest of the team were not. Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack and
Petr Cech are known to have had doubts, telling Roman Abramovich,
the owner, of their reservations at an informal meeting last
Thursday to which Terry was not party.
“I have sympathy for Scolari,” Terry said. “He had my support,
that’s for sure. Two or three other players will say the same
thing, I’m sure. Unfortunately we weren’t playing well and it falls
on his head. Maybe they should look at some of us. We
underachieved. It’s unfortunate because the manager is a great man,
but the overall picture needs to be looked at. The powers at the
club need to look at that.”
Without naming names, Terry also criticised several of his
team-mates’ performances this season, arguing that he and the
players should take a greater share of the responsibility for
Scolari’s dismissal.
“We’ve not been performing well individually and collectively as
a squad, and that falls on the manager’s head, which is unfair
because a few of us feel we could have done better in our time with
the manager,” Terry said. “We started off very well, but things
dipped in form and results. That’s unfortunate for Mr Scolari.”
Hiddink will not be in charge for Saturday’s FA Cup fifth-round
tie away to Watford, which will be supervised by Ray Wilkins, the
assistant first-team coach. The Dutchman will return to Moscow from
Russia’s training camp in Turkey today for talks with the Russian
Football Union, which confirmed last night that it would allow him
to combine two jobs until the end of the season.
Hiddink is expected to earn £2 million for 15 weeks’ work at
Chelsea and is considering bringing in Johan Neeskens, who served
as his assistant when he was in charge of Holland and Australia, as
his No 2.
Chelsea also insist that Hiddink will be only a temporary
appointment, but sources close to him conceded that he would be
willing to discuss continuing to combine both jobs next season,
with the proviso that he will stay in charge of Russia.
If Hiddink joins Chelsea, but then leaves the club in the
summer, they will turn their attentions to Carlo Ancelotti, the AC
Milan coach, who turned down an approach last summer. “If the
position is open in July he may consider it,” Umberto Gandini, the
Milan vice-president, said.
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