Guus Hiddink interview: Frank can win Champions League and lead the new Chelsea

Guus Hiddink knows a Chelsea crisis better than anybody but now, with Frank Lampard back at the helm, the Dutchman finally likes what he sees. So much so that Hiddink – who twice served as Roman Abramovich's firefighter-in-chief – is stating the case for Lampard to become the club's new permanent manager.

“Honestly, I would like him to be considered not just as an interim coach,” he tells Telegraph Sport. “But also to be given the confidence to continue with the project next season.”

Hiddink's surprising intervention is a major statement of faith, although not one which appears to be universally shared. The second coming of Lampard, which begins with Saturday's trip to Wolves, has certainly raised eyebrows. Few seem to believe that he will remain in charge, even if Lampard himself claimed it was possible at his unveiling on Thursday.

Yet Hiddink insists Lampard's familiarity with the west London club is more than just nostalgia. It is time, he says, to re-adopt Frank-ball.

“He knows the club like nobody else and it's important to give continuity to things,” Hiddink continues. “Like anyone, Lampard is going to need time. Chelsea have invested a lot of money but now need to adapt to an idea.”

The critics point out that Lampard has done little to justify stepping in for Graham Potter, who was sacked on Sunday, particularly given his previous stay at the club ended in dismissal in January 2021. But Hiddink has a further riposte to those doubters.

“When was it, before Todd Boehly arrived?” he adds, referring to Lampard's first spell. “It was perhaps too soon to take on such a big responsibility. He had just started his coaching career and now he's had more experience, he's more and better prepared. Let him work! I know him and I think he is the right person.”

'Frank can win Champions League and lead the new Chelsea'

Hiddink and Lampard, of course, go way back. It was 2009 when the Dutchman, then Russia manager, first encountered Lampard as took the reins at Stamford Bridge, his first clean-up operation for Abramovich in the wake of the doomed Luiz Felipe Scolari.

An FA Cup triumph and a run in the Champions League led to a clamour for the Dutchman to stay – an “almost perfect six months”, Hiddink remembers – but he decided to return to Russia.

Perhaps, then, cup glory is Lampard's path to earning the Chelsea job. A European quarter-final against Real Madrid awaits and Hiddink sees no reason why Lampard cannot win club football's biggest prize. “He has the chance to do something beautiful at the end of the season with the Champions League,” Hiddink adds. “And I think he can be the man to lead the new Chelsea.”

Some players and managers click and Lampard clearly left an impression on Hiddink, now one of the grand septuagenarians of European football. “I have very nice memories of Franky,” recalls Hiddink, speaking to Telegraph Sport from his home in Amsterdam. “He was a fantastic lad in the dressing room. As a footballer, a vintage midfielder. Strong, intelligent and dangerous around the box.

“He always contributed in a positive way to the group. Not shouting, not overacting, but always competing and pushing team-mates to do their best. I enjoyed him a lot. What I liked about Lampard is that sometimes I had to leave him on the bench or replace him, and he never gave me a bad face. He always accepted my decisions. He didn't complain, he always contributed. After a brilliant career, it was clear to me that he was going to be a coach.”

Perhaps like Frank Lampard in 2023, the Guus Hiddink of the 2010s still had unfinished business with Chelsea.

His second spell in 2015 was less successful. Although “it was another good period,” he remembers, one night across his two stints still defines modern Chelsea: That febrile Champions League semi-final defeat by Barcelona in 2009.

A string of howlers from referee Tom Henning Ovrebo condemned them to an away-goals defeat and the images of Didier Drogba screaming down the camera feel as raw today as they did 14 years ago.

“Anyone who reviews the images will see that we were not given at least two penalties,” Hiddink recalls. It is clearly a result that still rankles. “I didn't have much time to talk to him after the game, but I gave him a DVD of the game and said: 'Watch it again, especially the second half'.”

The fire is clearly still there even if Hiddink, now 76, is winding down. He announced his retirement as a manager two years ago. So what is it like, being put out to pasture?

“Miserable!” Hiddink laughs, although he is keen to correct the misconception that he is finished at the top of football. “I don't go to the training ground every day and people think I'm completely retired, which is not quite true. I am still involved in football, I do some conferences in the Dutch league, I advise managers and I am president of the Dutch coaches' association.”

Once a football man, always a football man. He even manages to squeeze in two games a week. “A little rondo with friends: six players against two in the middle trying to steal the ball. It's fun and keeps us active. We are still in good shape, even though I recently had an operation and I am 76 years old.”

Back to Lampard, then, and the pair are still in touch. His former charge has previously invited Hiddink to visit him in London, so is a reunion at Stamford Bridge on the cards? “I'm sure I will do it soon. I'm very fond of him, I hope he will get Chelsea out of this predicament and get them back to where they deserve to be.”

His reception when he does return is likely to be a warm one.