Scolari Arrives for Pre-season!
BIG PHIL SCOLARI
By dixon9
July 6 2008
“Big Phil” Scolari arrived at Chelsea’s Cobham training/academy complex for the first time today. The Brazilian (or is that Brazilian/Italian?) was shown around the buildings and pitches and introduced to staff before he formally begins training and coaching.
The players return for the Chelsea pre-season tomorrow Monday morning to begin what looks likely to become the next phase in the Chelsea revolution.
Scolari will be assisted by Brazil's former goalkeeping coach Carlos Pracidelli who will take on scouting and other duties and really good news is that Clarkey will continue at the Bridge as an assistant coach after meeting Scolari in Portugal to discuss the situation last week.
Scolari is looking forward to starting work:
"It is fantastic to finally be here. The training ground is world class and I am very impressed by everything I have seen and heard from the staff.”
"I am looking forward to welcoming the players back from their summer holidays tomorrow so we can start working together."
Apparently though he doesn’t like the “Big Phil” moniker stating that his name is “Felipe” NOT “Big Phil” (Shame because I was getting used to the idea!).
It will be interesting to see what name he is called by Terry and the boys – Whatever Big Phil tells them I imagine! (Wouldn´t be surprised if he knocks on the door of Cafe Brazil opposite the Bridge and gives the owner an earful!).
“It can be the hardest job in football because everyone expects everything. Winning is not enough, you need to play with style and, of course, you need to bring trophies.
“It’s not easy when you have two years with six trophies and you need to keep winning and that is a pressure.It’s only for people who can handle it.”
“We have a real sense of starting a new era. This is basically what happened when Jose arrived and this can be the second coming when we will start building something else.”
"Yes there is pressure on him but here we are talking Premier League, Champions League. He was manager of Brazil. In Brazil, they go to the World Cup and if they do not win it, it’s a disgrace. He couldn’t have had bigger pressure than that, so this is another advantage.”
“I spoke to him once briefly. From what you see, he is a character.
“You know exactly what he wants to do because even on the bench, you feel that he comes to speak only when he feels he has to. You don’t see really huge emotions.
“He has the charisma, which is important for the really big clubs.
“Even with Brazil and Portugal, it was not crazy football, with the technical skills. You can feel that all his teams are well prepared and physically they fight.
“Tactically, you could see that they could adapt because when we played Portugal at the Euros, they started the game one way and in the second half, they changed the system.
“He’s no respecter of reputation either. That’s good as you always want the players with the best actual form on the pitch, not only because they have a big name.”
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.