By Daily Sports on December 16, 2015

Chelsea have started to draw up a contingency plan in the event of owner Roman Abramovich sacking manager Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho was pushed towards the brink by a ninth Premier League defeat of the season against Leicester City and the club’s board are now deliberating over their next move.

Until such time as Mourinho is sacked, the club insist his position remains unchanged and he is expected to take training on Wednesday in preparation for Saturday’s game against Sunderland.

But it is understood that, for the first time, serious consideration is being given as to what Chelsea would do in the event of a mid-season change.

Top targets Pep Guardiola, Diego Simeone and Antonio Conte are not available until the summer, with Guardiola also being pursued by Manchester City. Less ambitious permanent options include Southampton manager Ronald Koeman and Sevilla’s Unai Emery.

That leaves Chelsea also looking at alternative options, like former manager Carlo Ancelotti, or an experienced caretaker appointment such as Guus Hiddink.

The lack of an obvious immediate replacement for Mourinho is believed to have played a major part in the Portuguese surviving until now and the prospect of him clinging on for a while longer has not yet been ruled out.

Ancelotti is currently the most attractive out of work manager, but the Italian has stated that he does not want to take a new job mid-season and is interested in both the Bayern Munich and Manchester United jobs that could become available in the summer.

Dutchman Hiddink has already hinted he would be interested in replacing Mourinho until the end of the season in what would be a similar scenario to when the 69-year-old last took caretaker charge of Chelsea in February 2009 and finished the season as an FA Cup winner.

Abramovich has desperately attempted to stand by Mourinho and ride out the current storm, but there is growing concern that the 52-year-old will not be able to turn around the club’s dreadful run of results.

Chelsea are just one point above the Premier League relegation zone, with any hope of finishing in the top four now gone. Mourinho laid into his players after the Leicester defeat with the bond between him and his squad and relationships between team-mates reaching breaking point.

•Excerpted from a Telegraph Sport report. Photo shows Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 16, 2015

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