LeeDixon

So who will be the next permanent Chelsea manager? Your guess is as good as mine.

What I mean is that it's not easy to try to second guess what Roman Abramovich will do next. But let's try anyway. I don't think he'll take the gamble of going for another young, up-and-coming manager because of how that turned out with Andre Villa-Boas. Of course that worked with Jose Mourinho but without wishing to further inflate the ego of the Real Madrid boss, Mourinho really is a bit special. So it will probably be a wise old head and it will have to be someone who isn't afraid to take on Abramovich and say "Look, I'm the manager. You appointed me to run the football team so let me get on with the job of doing that. If you want to do it yourself just say, pay up my contract and I'll see you later". Which of course is exactly the sort of thing Jose Mourinho would say. And mean it.

Mourinho could well end up coming back to Stamford Bridge. In the crazy world of football I certainly wouldn't rule it out. Because the other problem the next Chelsea manager has is to gain the respect and support of the senior players. The names who have been mentioned in the Press as the ones who never got behind Villas-Boas. And ultimately got him sacked. John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and a couple of others. All players who played their best football under Mourinho and who would walk on hot coals if he asked them to.

But it's also possible that when Abramovich allegedly told the players there would be wholesale changes at the end of the season and that everyone was playing for their futures from now on, he was also including those same senior players. As with everything else going on at the moment, we can only guess what's on Abramovich's mind.

The other obvious candidate is Pep Guardiola. There's no doubting his achievements as a manager, not to mention the fact it's easier for players to respect him because of the wonderful player he was himself. And behind the mild-mannered demeanour there's a man who believes in himself enough to question authority if he feels he's being unfairly treated. Whether he thinks he's got unfinished business at Barcelona or is looking for a new challenge, only he knows. I'd be surprised if Abramovich hasn't already tried to find out.

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