Chelsea’s interim manager Guus Hiddink has expressed his admiration of Arsene Wenger and said that he doesn’t imagine that any Premier League manager will be given the same amount of time as him in the future.
The 66 year old Frenchman has been in charge of Chelsea’s London rivals for nearly 20 years, winning the Premier League three times during that period. He came under pressure when he went eight years without winning a trophy, before seeing his side lift the FA Cup two years in a row over the last two seasons.
Dutchman Hiddink said, “He might be one of the last to sit on the chair that long. Him being in charge in those years without a title means there is a lot of confidence from the board. It’s always good to have men who have a long period at a club”.
Hiddink himself has benefitted from Chelsea not taking the same stance with their managers as Arsenal have. His current spell at Stamford Bridge is the second time he has taken over at Chelsea on an interim basis. In 2009 he took over from Luis Felipe Scolari when Chelsea’s owner, Roman Abramovich, fired him. The same thing happened in December when the Russian decided to call time on Jose Mourinho’s second spell at the club.
Whilst Arsene Wenger has been manager of the Gunners for 19 and a half years, Chelsea have changed manager 12 times and won the Premier League on four different occasions.