Charmer Phil is already a winner

A hothead? A bruiser? A nutcase? Well, for the moment, we can forget all that. The first Brazilian manager of any top flight English club wandered into the unlikely stage of the Cobham Hilton and delivered such a silky smooth opening salvo that he had everyone eating out of his hand. A certain J. Mourinho could not have provided a more conclusive KO.

First things first, the big surprise. Supposedly a bloke who hasn't got a word of English, from the kick-off he made it clear he wasn't going to hide behind his Portuguese translator. "I will try to speak in English . . . sorry . . ." he started off, faltering just a wee bit and we feared for him.

But thereafter there was no need for apology nor sympathy as he continued: "It's a new challenge in life. A different challenge that I don't think in my life I have one opportunity like Chelsea give to me now."

Immediately, his audience warmed to his effort and it was the prelude to a bravura performance. He made us laugh, reacting indignantly when someone suggested he was 60 when, in fact, he wanted everyone to know he was 59. He made us feel relaxed with his references to "respect" for the media corps when all we'd ever heard before was how he'd got a penchant for thumping journalists.

And if I were a Chelsea fan, I would have only felt comforted by his comments about the way he has evidently walked into the training ground down the road from the hotel and started an immediate charm offensive with the players. "Chelsea need Lampard," he boomed. "The captain is still John Terry". Music to Blues fans, doubtless.

Only don't expect the beautiful game. The Brazilian who famously once pronounced it dead made it fairly clear any resurrection of it at Stamford Bridge would probably only be partial. If it's possible to win while playing beautifully, he would try, he said, sounding every inch the Mourinho-like pragmatist.

Like Mourinho, though, he came out with some lovely lines and could be forgiven the one he'd obviously prepared in advance when he was asked whether, just like the blessed Jose, Chelsea had collared another Special One.

"Yes," he said, opting then for the pause which enabled the laughter to erupt. Then he continued: "I am special

. . . for my friends, for my family and those people only. Not more." And special as a manager? "So so," he said with a comic grimace which showed just the right amount of self-deprecation which always escaped Mourinho.

Indeed, there was a bit of a mix of Mourinho's cockiness and Avram Grant's modesty in his 40-minute audience but there was no escaping the oodles of charisma which the former was blessed with and the latter, alas, never was.

This is the manager who not so long ago punched a player on the touchline, who gets so heated and is such a split of Gene Hackman that you wouldn't have been surprised if he'd burst into the press conference, lined all the media up against the table and frisked them all like Popeye Doyle in a New York bar.

Well, at least he looked like Gene - but besuited for the occasion (while admitting he preferred his old tracksuit) he began a charm offensive which must have impressed Chelsea's great and good, like chief executive Peter Kenyon,all in the front row of the audience. This marked a departure from when Kenyon unveiled Mourinho and was sitting alongside him on the top table; this time, everyone recognised they were all extras in the Big Phil show.

Naturally, nobody dared call him that dreaded name because he hates it but it's clear he must have made a big impression on his first day of training yesterday. His exchange with Terry had everyone chuckling. "He came to my room, he said 'I'm John Terry. I said 'I know you!'," reckoned Scolari.

For the first time in his nomadic global career, Scolari was at a club where he would have to deal with a host of different nationalities. How would he develop the family atmosphere which he always loved to instill at each place he managed? "When you look someone in the eye and you have this feeling of friendship with them, you communicate with them. For instance yesterday, though we don't share a language, I did communicate quite well with Andriy Shevchenko," he said, in what could be a first at Chelsea. "You see, sometimes football has its own language. I'm going to keep the same posture I've had all my life - be decent and correct."

Having even made his interpreter chuckle by admitting to her "you look more nervous than me", he actually then made her largely redundant because his English was so proficient. Only asked whether he's started English lessons yet, he explained he hadn't had any time because he'd been at the training-ground from 10 to six and Chelsea had given him 20 books to read about the club which was taking up all his time!

Of the nitty-gritty about who he was going to sign, he effortlessly batted away - for the moment, at least - the dreams of a £60 million Kaka swanning around at the Bridge next month. "Now is the time for people with time for speculation. Kaka . . . Ambrosio .. . Pedro and Paulo," he responded airily, waving his arms around in the wonderful theatrical fashion which informed us that a great new actor is back on board at Chelsea.

After this effort, you wouldn't back any of them - Kaka, Ronaldinho, Uncle Didier and all - to upstage the star at the top table. Big Phil has arrived and it's going to be a rare old treat.