Great candidate but is he the right choice?

David Mellor
12 Jun 2008

I suppose we should all have twigged when Big Phil Scolari started recommending Cristiano Ronaldo to move to Spain. Wouldn't be a bad start for a Chelsea manager to get rid of the main rival's best player, would it?

One thing is certain, however, Scolari will be great for the Premier League. He's a big man with a big reputation, big gestures and a big mouth. He'll make fantastic television viewing, ranting and raving in the technical area.

But will he be good for Chelsea? Here the debate gets more complex.

On one hand you can't argue with his record. He turned a shambolic Brazilian squad into 2002 World Cup winners and he has done well with Portugal and in South America's equivalent of the Champions League.

He is tough and won't take any nonsense from the players; nor, one hopes, from Roman Abramovich.

So far so good. But there's a school of thought well summed up by ITV's Clive Tyldesley's comment that Scolari "looks a great candidate for the wrong job".

He has never managed a European club, so has never competed in the all-important Champions League, and the skill set required from an international coach is different from that needed at club level.

Nearing 60, is he still adaptable enough to make the change? And will the fact he seems to have no command of English be a serious handicap?

And what about Big Phil's famous intolerance of media intrusion? That stopped him taking the England job two years ago, more's the pity, and could still prove a major distraction.

A lot of Big Phil's triumphs were a long time ago, so those of us who hope for a happy outcome must put our faith in the old adage that form is temporary but class is forever.

The best thing about Scolari is that he isn't Guus Hiddink or Frank Rijkaard. The Russian coach has been talked up way above his capabilities, while the mumbling Rijkaard, after a couple of good seasons, let it all slip away at Barcelona. Big Phil is head and shoulders above both of them.

The regret remains the two best candidates were allowed to slip through Chelsea's fingers. There is always a process of adaptation, and it is idle to imagine Big Phil can hit the ground running as fast as Jose Mourinho would have done had he been invited back.

Mark Hughes, too, knows all there is to know about the Premier League and it's sad his sterling qualities will now be available to Chelsea's minimes Manchester City.

If Hughes does well at Eastlands it's Manchester United for him, so he is probably lost to us forever.

The best verdict on Scolari has to be this; they could have looked much further and fared much worse. Let's hope the big man's got one big challenge left in him.