Gianfranco Zola at West Ham: A Good Thing For Chelsea?

Columnist Written on September 07, 2008

After the sacking of Alan Curbishley last week, there have been numerous rumours over who will be the next West Ham manager.

It appears Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola is one of the front runners, along with compatriot Roberto Donadoni.

Zola was interviewed for the second time on Sunday, and according to reports he impressed the West Ham hierarchy.

While West Ham are one of Chelsea’s sworn rivals, Zola taking over at the East London club would be good news for the Blues faithful.

First, it would give Zola a chance to cut his managerial teeth and gain some Premier League experience. The success of his spell at West Ham would be an indicator as to how well he would do if he was given the top job at Chelsea. If he succeeded, it would show Chelsea fans that Zola has the potential to return to Chelsea one day as manager.

If he wasn’t successful, it would show that Zola isn’t quite ready to make the step up. This would likely prevent him from managing Chelsea in the immediate future, but with further managerial experience he could improve and use his time at West Ham as a foundation to build upon.

Seeing the diminutive Italian holding aloft a trophy with the Hammers would be a bit galling to Chelsea fans, but in the long term the pros would definitely outweigh the cons.

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written on September 07, 2008 Opinion

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