The numbers don't add up

Less than 48 hours after sacking Luiz Felipe Scolari, Chelsea have announced the appointment of Guus Hiddink as their temporary head coach until the end of the season. Hiddink - whose current role as national coach of Russia is bankrolled by Roman Abramovich - will juggle both jobs for the moment, something he has done successfully before when managing both PSV Eindhoven and Australia.

Talking to 5 Live last night, the head of the Russian FA said, quite diplomatically, that he was neither happy nor disappointed by Chelsea's pursuit of Hiddink. He certainly sounded resigned, however; you could almost hear the sigh at the other end of the phone line.

Putting the merits of Scolari's sacking to one side, there is no doubt that Chelsea have appointed a man who is broadly accepted to be one of world football's leading managers at both domestic and international level.

But one has to wonder what on earth is going on at Chelsea. We are told that Abramovich is becoming increasingly disillusioned with his plaything and has tightened the purse-strings. On the one hand, this appears true: Chelsea allowed themselves to be outbid by Manchester City for Robinho last summer - at a cost of around £32m - and then refused to release additional funds in the recent transfer window, in addition to a string of other smaller cost-cutting measures. On the other hand, over the past 17 months the club has also seen fit to part with the services of Jose Mourinho (whose severance package was estimated at upwards of £20m), Avram Grant (reportedly £5.2m) and now Scolari (£7.5m) and three of his assistants.

Now, it doesn't take a maths PhD to work out that the cost of dismissing these three managers would have bought Chelsea Robinho.

So there appears to be plenty of money available to fire the manager if he rubs the owner up the wrong way or if he shows the first sign of falling below expectations. But not enough to buy the superstar player who was top of Scolari's shopping list. Okay.

Yes, I know the equation isn't as simple as that. Scolari was fired on the basis of several months' worth of poor results, poor performances, dressing room mutterings and - most importantly - the growing threat that Chelsea might not qualify for the Champions League next season, and it is this competition more than any other which defines Abramovich's footballing raison d'être.

But it's still a bit odd, don't you think? After years of opulent extravagance, Chelsea are now being asked to be managed like a proper business. Except when the owner decides otherwise. Still, I suppose that's Abramovich's prerogative; it is, after all, his club. Just take it with a pinch of salt the next time the club mentions its straitened finances as an excuse for not buying so-and-so.

For all the good times they have enjoyed over the past five and a half years, Chelsea fans are now discovering that even they are not immune from the inevitable downside.

Welcome to the real world.