Guus Hiddink CAN Stay at Chelsea

With Chelsea in arguably their best form in years, the unified voice around Stamford Bridge is that Guus Hiddink should stay on as manager beyond the end of the season.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich already played a long waiting game to get the Dutchman even as caretaker manager, and his patience seems to have paid off, with a resurgent Chelsea in the semifinals of the Champions League and the FA Cup final.

If they win either, it will be the first piece of silverware the club have won since the departure of Jose Mourinho.

The chess game continues in the quest to keep Hiddink as Chelsea manager, but as he continues to get stellar performances from his men, outsmarting his rivals, the pressure is increasing for the Dutchman to stay. The players have already made their feelings public, and the fans too are lending their voices to the cause.

Up until now, a permanent move for the Russian coach would seem unpatriotic for Abramovich, whose relationship with his motherland is vitally important. There's a suggestion that Russia failing to qualify for the World Cup finals would be the only way that Hiddink could continue at Chelsea.

Not true.

In fact, for Hiddink to stay on as Chelsea manager, it is important for Russia to succeed. The job of a national coach is an interesting one—large periods of time with nothing happening. Time in which the devil often finds work for idle (if well-paid) hands—Sven-Goran Eriksson's dalliances being case-in-point.

Hiddink's predecessor, Luiz Felipe Scolari, knows only too well the apathy that can come from the relatively laid-back vocation of a national coach, lacking in the day to day requirements of team management.

National teams are hardly ever together as a unit, and the rest of the time, the coach has little else to do other than attend the occasional match and "check up" on his players.

So Abramovich and Guus Hiddink have smashed the proverbial model and with it perhaps created the greatest shake-up in world football.

By coaching Chelsea, Hiddink is embroiled in the day to day business that is football management. He is having to use his brain to make his players do what he needs them to do. He has to study other teams, other players, and know their strengths and weaknesses, and this is only making him a better coach—for Chelsea and for Russia.

"Coaching is like a muscle—the more the muscle is exercised, the stronger it becomes." That's why there's a tendency for flab among previous national team coaches.

If Russia make the Word Cup finals, even if they go on to win the thing, it will ultimately come down to the skills of the players. But as managers go, they will only have benefited from Guus Hiddink's dual role as Chelsea boss.

He's proved that not only can one carry out both roles, but it is possible to thrive that way. If Hiddink does leave Chelsea in May, he will not only be worse off for having left a club that loves him and for whom he can do so much, but also because he will be losing what Chelsea give him and that is invaluable.

So, Guus Hiddink can stay on as manager at Chelsea, and he will also remain the manager of Russia. Long may both sides benefit from that unique recipe for success.

After all, the sides will never have to play one another, and who knows—this may be the way it's always done in the future.

Sir Alex Ferguson to coach England and Manchester United, anyone?