PELLEGRINI - FORGET MOURINHO - HE'S ROMAN'S CHOICE!.

I have been foolish and I am the first to admit it. If you are a regular follower of my blog, you would know that I have been posting numerous stories regarding the future of Jose Mourinho and the fact that I believe (and hope) that he is coming back to Chelsea this summer. For the first time since these stories have been reported, I am not so sure!

We all wake up and check out the latest headlines in the written press every day at some stage. Most of them a reliable sources whereas others are not so. Come on, admit it, we also look at the "tabloids" which isn't always a good thing.

I have been so focused and committed to the Mourinho cause, I had almost disregarded anyone else that has a shot at becoming our next manager. Even to the point that just the other day I had disregarded a rumour that Chelsea were "interested" in Manuel Pellegrini, the Malaga coach who has literally worked wonders!

When you think of Pellegrini, you think of his time at Real Madrid as a failure as they won literally nothing. I pointed this out in a post or comment just the other day and it's only now I realise that was unfair and if anything, as a blogger, I need to do my research properly.

We will continue to hear all sorts of rumour and speculation about the job at Chelsea until there is an official announcement from the club. The likes of Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Guus Hiddink and David Moyes have all been linked with the club in addition to Mourinho and Pellegrini but it's seems at the moment it's a two horse race between the Chilean and the Portuguese.

If reports in established broadsheets are true, there is a MAJOR stumbling block with the Mourinho return and it's also believed that many of the stories we are reading have come from the Mourinho camp and not from Chelsea!.

Mourinho's wage demands, demand for complete control of transfer activity AND a get-out clause for non qualification to the Champions League under his stewardship have forced Roman Abramovich to look elsewhere. As a result, he has turned to someone that the press believe he has admired for some time in Pellegrini.

As for Pellegrini, looking at his career in Spain and especially with Madrid, he could be the answer. With wage demands of more than half Mourinho is asking for, you can understand why he would appeal to Abramovich.

I was looking at Pellegrini's time at Real Madrid in more detail and despite being treated with disrespect, he led them to their record points total in La Liga but finished second to Barcelona.

People remember that season for the fact that Real spent ridiculous amounts of money on the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema but there was more to it than that. The same summer, Real President Florentino Perez sold Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder against Pellegrini's wishes. Perez and Pellegrini never spoke from August of that season to the end of the season.

Speaking of his time at Madrid, Pellegrini said:

"I came with high hopes and great pride. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do. I didn’t have a voice or a vote.

They sign the best players, but not the best players needed in a certain position. It’s no good having an orchestra with the 10 best guitarists if I don’t have a pianist. Real Madrid have the best guitarists, but if I ask them to play the piano they won’t be able to do it so well. He sold players that I considered important. We didn't win the Champions League because we didn't have a squad properly structured to be able to win it." 

Pellegrini manages his teams with the focus on team building, interpersonal relationships, honesty and integrity. A 4-2-4 formation with one target man and three more mobile forwards is his preferred formation and has served him well. He has also proven himself to take a squad full of big names and star players into a collective, cohesive unit that works hard for each other. He ensures his team has an important balance in each position to support and compliment each other. There is nothing lop-sided about a Pellegrini eleven.

Of course plenty of comparisons will be made with Pellegrini and Mourinho between now and the end of the season but it seems that although like I said, Mourinho is most peoples first choice, it seems that he could be talking his way out of a return to Stamford Bridge.

If that happens and Abramovich has made his mind up, then Manuel Pellegrini seems to be the man to take over as we have already seen reports that Chelsea have approached his advisors of his potential availability this summer. The fact that Malaga have reported financial problems could play into our hands with any deal involving compensation favourable to the Spaniards.

So what do you think of the situation with Pellegrini and of the reports regarding Roman's opinion of the Mourinho demands? Do you think that Pellegrini could come here and take Chelsea that step further or do you think it's too much of a risk to take another chance on a foreign manager just as we did with AVB?

Carefree & KTBFFH!

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