Hiddink says ´no splits´ in Chelsea dressing room

Guus Hiddink is adamant there are no splits in the Chelsea dressing room and believes team spirit has not been damaged by the recent turmoil at the English Premier League club.

Hiddink was appointed as Chelsea’s interim manager until the end of the season last week, after the sacking of Luiz Felipe Scolari following a run of poor results and apparent disaffection in the dressing room.

A delegation of senior players, including striker Didier Drogba, midfielder Michael Ballack and goalkeeper Petr Cech, were reported to have spoken to club owner Roman Abramovich to express their dissastisfaction over Scolari’s training methods, while John Terry recent admitted only “two or three” players were fully behind the Brazilian.

Drogba subsequently suggested that Scolari had “divided” the dressing room rather than uniting it by going public with his criticisms of the squad.

That disgruntlement suggests Hiddink, who is well versed in handling explosive dressing rooms from his time with Real Madrid and Holland, will need to be at his diplomatic best to restore Chelsea to their formidable best.

But Chelsea’s fifth manager in the last four years claimed at his inaugural press conference that the stories of unrest had been grossly exaggerated.

“People have said that Chelsea have had problems but I am not fully aware of them and I’m not that interested,” he said. “I don’t want to know about the past – I am here to go forward.

“I notice how people behave and how people get on with each other or not, but in my view there is no problem in that.

“I have watched the team from a little distance on the training ground and in the locker room over the last few days and I cannot see that there is division, or whatever.

“I am not totally naive and I wanted to see whether anything which has been said about the recent past is true.

“But you can see when you play games in training whether the players get emotional. You cannot mask things then – you show your emotions and show whether you get at a certain player or whatever.

“But I haven’t seen that. They respect each other. From what I have noticed, they are a united squad.

“They are 20-plus players, and I am realistic enough to know that everyone from number one to 11 will be very happy but the rest will want to play. But they know they are in a big club and that not everyone can play.”

Hiddink has been relying on detailed briefings from his assistant manager Ray Wilkins as he attempts to get to grips with his new squad, although his starting line-up for Saturday’s crucial encounter with third-placed Aston Villa is not expected to contain many surprises.

“Everyone knows the players, especially the ones who are dominating at international level,” he added. “But it’s always important to know the less-known players and their position in the squad as well.

“I get my information from Ray Wilkins, who is very well respected, and he has given me very good infornation about players who are less well known. I will make my decisions together with him.”