A blog of two halves

Wanted, manager

Wanted. Manager. No previous silverware necessary. Must be willing to work for £5million per year, plus generous cigarette allowance.

12 February 2019
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Current Chelsea manager post-holder, Maurizio Sarri. PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES

Wanted. Manager. No previous silverware necessary. Must be willing to work for £5million per year, plus generous cigarette allowance.

Tracksuits and trainers are provided (you will go through several pairs of trainers, pacing back and forward – but mainly backwards).

The successful candidate must supply his own hair dye after the stock of Auburn Sunset used by Glenn Hoddle ran out.

The contract officially runs for three years, but – don't worry – this is only a technicality. It actually runs for eight months. At that point you will be shown the door and given a farewell bonus of £10m. Please take your ashtrays with you.

You will be allowed to keep your tracksuit, unless your replacement happens to be Marco Silva, in which case the initials still apply, so please hang it on the back of the office door as you leave.

What do we expect of you? That's the beauty of this job. Nothing! We'll take it on trust that someone who has managed a string of teams nobody has heard of, and won nothing, will be a glorious success.

It will help if you are so stuck in your ways that you flatly refuse to listen to advice from anyone – even those who have actually achieved something in football.

If you speak English, that's good. But it's not essential. Feel free to lapse into your native language after a few months, and a translator will be supplied.

A willingness to march straight past opposing managers who offer to shake your hand after giving you the humiliation of your life is essential.

Chelsea FC is an equal opportunities employer. In fact we'll take anyone. Absolutely anyone.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

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Tim Harrison

Tim is our Chelsea FC blogger.

He also writes our Shepherds Bush Cricket Club match reports during the football close season.

Tim has been writing Chelsea match reports since the late 1980s for newspapers and, more recently, websites.

When he first reported on the Blues, the press box was a metal cage suspended over the lip of the old west stand - and you reached it via a precarious walkway over the heads of the fans.

But he has been a Chelsea fan since his father took an excited seven-year-old to watch Chelsea v Manchester United in the mid 1960s... and covered his ears every time the chanting got too ripe.

In July 2005 he wrote The Rough Guide to Chelsea, published by Penguin, which sold 15,000 copies.

His favourite player of all time is Charlie Cooke, the mazy winger who lit up Chelsea's left wing in the 60s and 70s.

When he isn't watching the Blues, Tim acts, paints, writes and researches local history.

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