Luiz Felipe Scolari says he’ll stay in London

Roman Abramovich may give his Chelsea FC managers a hard time during their brief tenures at Stamford Bridge, but it seems it doesn’t put them off the joys of living in London. The last man to be fired, Israeli Avram Grant, decided to keep his home in the capital. Now Luiz Felipe Scolari, sacked yesterday after just 224 days in charge of the ritzy Chelsea squad, has already said he intends to stay in town. A £7.5 million pay off should help with life for the former Brazilian national manager at the Villa el Redundo.

The question now is who's ready to put his head on the block next for the Russian oligarch? The sports page favourites are the Italian Roberto Mancini, a striker for Sampdoria and the national team in the 1980s and 90s, and more recently manager at Inter Milan, and the great Dutch player Frank Rijkaard, who recently managed Barcelona. Many Chelsea fans and players would like their former star player Gianfranco Zola, currently earning his spurs as manager of West Ham, to return as boss.

In the meantime, there are suggestions that Grant might return as a caretaker manager until someone has the balls to take on the high-risk job. It’s not just that Abramovich has fired four men in five years (Claudio Ranieri and Jose Mourinho were the first two to go) but Scolari was the seventh Premier League manager to either be sacked or to quit this season. That's seven out of 20.
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