Scolari wants British fans to love Chelsea
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Luiz Felipe Scolari targets global appeal for Chelsea
As Luiz Felipe Scolari surveyed the panoramic view from Moscow's Kempinski Hotel across the Kremlin and Red Square, it seemed somehow inappropriate to be discussing Chelsea's stated desire to "turn the world blue".
PHIL SCOLARI insists he will NEVER be a big-head like Jose Mourinho.
And the new Chelsea boss says he will not blame his players if they fail to meet his targets. The World Cup-winning Brazilian makes it clear that he has little time for the arrogance of Mourinho, the self-appointed ‘Special One’.
He said: “I am not Jose Mourinho, so why compare me with him? “Mourinho says ‘I will win 10 championships’. “But I am more modest than that. I am from south Brazil and in my culture I never say ‘I will win this, this or that’.
Scolari is determined to throw off the shadow of Mourinho and get down to the serious business of pitting his wits against his Premier League rivals.
One of the advantages of speaking to someone in their second, or, in Luiz Felipe Scolari's case, fourth language is that they occasionally let slip an inadvertent indiscretion. Sitting in the bar of the Baltschug Kempinski hotel, on the banks of the Moskva River, the Chelsea manager patiently and painstakingly explained his vision for the club in his rapidly improving English, offering a slightly different one from that of his employers.
Chelsea's club anthem is Blue is the Colour, but given their desire for global domination, Garbage's The World Is Not Enough, from the 1999 James Bond film of the same title, would be more appropriate. If not quite a Bond villain, Peter Kenyon, the chief executive whose stated aim is to make Chelsea the world's leading club by 2014, has been compared to Austin Powers's Dr Evil.
It was refreshing, therefore, to hear Scolari bring a tone of realism to a club noted for their grand ambitions, pointing out that it could take Chelsea 50 years to match the status of Manchester United. As well as delivering trophies and entertaining football, part of the Brazilian's remit is to improve Chelsea's image, a daunting task to which he has made an impressive start. Honest, humble and incredibly eager to please, Scolari is a welcome addition to the pantomime that is the Barclays Premier League.
“I want to make Chelsea loved around the world, like Barcelona and Manchester United,” he said. “It's a surprise for me that people say Chelsea are unpopular, because when we went to China, they love Chelsea. There were many people there. It's a big surprise people don't like us in England. Here in Russia, in Malaysia, it's even better, but maybe not yet in Brazil or South America.
“Chelsea is a club that is a growing name. Before, it was Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Milan. If we win one or two big competitions, I'm sure we'll have fans all over the world. Maybe it won't be the same as Madrid, Manchester or [AC] Milan because our history is not the same and you don't make a history in two, three or ten years. Maybe in 20 or 50 years, Chelsea will be on that level.”
After unintentionally putting Kenyon straight, Scolari went on to contrast himself with José Mourinho, in whose shadow he will reside until he wins the Premier League or Champions League. Without quite labelling the Portuguese arrogant, Scolari made it clear he is far more modest, pledging that he will never boast about his achievements.
“I am not José Mourinho, so why compare me with him?” he said. “Mourinho says, 'I will win ten championships.' I don't say, 'I will win ten.' I say, 'I will try.' I am from South Brazil. We're different. I'll say, 'We will try to win all the competitions,' but in my culture, I'll never say, 'I will win this, this or that.'
“I'm more modest. Maybe Mourinho says, 'I win', and afterwards if he does not win, it causes problems. Because the manager doesn't play, it's the players and if they make a mistake, you then have to say, 'It is the players who are bad,' and I will never do that. You are the man who must take the responsibility.”
Scolari will use different methods and claims that the days of huge spending are over despite the club's interest in Robinho, the Real Madrid forward. “Since I came to Chelsea we have only spent €10million [about £8million] for Deco,” he said. “Who else have we bought? [José] Bosingwa was before me. Maybe they spend more money before, but now they don't spend the same because they already have a base. They need a coach to develop young players and I am that coach.”
Scolari also has a job on his hands lifting the morale of Chelsea's first-team squad after revealing that many of them are still shattered by last season's penalty shoot-out defeat by United in the Champions League final. The 59-year-old has been shocked by the mental frailty of some of his players, but will not tiptoe around them for ever.
“The players are still affected by last season's disappointments,” he said. “If you're talking about penalties, some players refuse to take one. I need to change this mentality, where some players are afraid of penalties because they don't want to be right or wrong.
“Throughout the world, if you ask the players about me, they say, 'I like Scolari because he is a true man, he speaks honestly in front of you and he's very good as a person.' I will try to remain the same until my last day in Chelsea. If I need to say something to a player, I will say it to his face. I'm not afraid to upset the players.”
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stfu
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Originally posted by dinky1409:
stfu
talking to urself?
Big phil also know whot to cre8 news... =) this season champion league should be intresting -
i believe chelsea will be better than last season. they finally got themselves deco, a real playmaker.
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i too agreed that Chelsea will be a much better team then last year, last year they're good (which i still wouldn't give credit to Grant) but this year they will be the team to beat instead of ManU IMHO.. stand to be corrected!!!
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Originally posted by Saltiga:
i too agreed that Chelsea will be a much better team then last year, last year they're good (which i still wouldn't give credit to Grant) but this year they will be the team to beat instead of ManU IMHO.. stand to be corrected!!!
_!_ Grant..
i expect chelsea to get 1 tropy this season.. at least.. carling cup also happy.. rather then that faggot grant all win by 2nd -
chelsea -
Yes, Chelsea are indeed the team to beat this coming season... If they stay injury free or not too serious like last season, I think they stand a very good chance to win the league title and maybe even Europe...
They have finally got a decent right-back ( I feel the past 4 yrs they haven't got 1) despite buying so many different players... and they didn't lose any big player during the transfer window... But I honestly belief that if they suffer the same injury problems like last season, Scolari won't be able to do as well as Grant...
Another thing is Scolari is known to have a bad temper, will he lose it when the pressure starts to build up? And will he be able to maintain Chelsea's unbeaten home record? and he can't, how will the players react? We have all seen how Arsenal players react after losing an unbeaten record... twice...
Anyway, will Scolari even lose at the Bridge? Not very likely this season...
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SCOLARI: I'M NOT ARROGANT LIKE JOSE MOURINHO
Luiz Felipe Scolari has distanced himself from the brash arrogance which was a feature of Jose Mourinho's Chelsea and insisted he could make the club "loved" the world over as they attempt to establish themselves on a par with the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid in world football's hierarchy.
The Brazilian admitted he was taken aback by his club's popularity on their pre-season tour of Asia and Russia, frenzied support which is not seen in Britain where Roman Abramovich's millions have bred resentment. But Scolari intends to change the club's philosophy by moving away from spending lavishly and will not attempt to emulate the hyperbole so often used by Mourinho during his three-year reign at Stamford Bridge.
"I am not Jose Mourinho so why should people compare me with him?" said Scolari.
"I want to make Chelsea loved around the world, like Barcelona and Manchester United. It's a surprise when people say Chelsea are unpopular because, when we went to China, they cried for Chelsea. They loved Chelsea. It's a big surprise people don't like us in England. But Chelsea is a club that is a growing name. Before it was Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Milan. Our history is not the same and you can't make history in two, three or even 10 years, but maybe in 20 or 50 years Chelsea will be on that level."
10 ways to make Chelsea loved
1 Try to persuade the chief executive, Peter Kenyon, to eat some lemon peel before appearing in public to make his mug look less smug. Then tell him to desist from throwing stones at other people's greenhouses
2 Change the rampant lion on the club's crest to Daktari's cuddly Clarence the cross-eyed lion3 Elevate the club's honorary life vice-president, Lord Attenborough, to public relations supremo and hope he can court the media by calling everyone 'darling'
4 Bring back Ken Bates as chairman. It would be guaranteed to make them adored for the first time ever ... if only in Leeds
5 Call Elvis Costello and ask him to reconsider and record I Do Want to Go to Chelsea
6 Keep losing European Cup finals on penalties and they will quickly garner the valiant loser appeal that can turn the British public from antipathy to sympathy
7 Disown and then send Tim Lovejoy back to Watford, David Mellor to Fulham and Jeremy Vine to Newsnight
8 Get Roman Abramovich to up sticks on a whim and relocate the club to some footballing hotbed such as Berkhamsted. The rump club could rename itself AFC Chelsea of Fulham Road, appoint Gianfranco Zola and John Bumstead as managerial dream team and switch club song from Blue is the Colour to Sam Cooke's Cupid
9 Instruct Messrs Terry, Ballack, Drogba, Lampard, Cole, Mikel and Anelka that it takes far fewer muscles to smile than it does to scream impertinent Jeremiads into the referee's face
10 Follow up the appointment of Luiz Felipe Scolari by signing his fellow Brazilians Pele, Jairzinho, Carlos Alberto, Gerson, Tostao and Everaldo
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Originally posted by youyayu:
talking to urself?
Big phil also know whot to cre8 news... =) this season champion league should be intresting
yah.. =( -
tkk