Guus Hiddink fell for Chelsea

Chelsea's newly departed interim manager Guus Hiddink showed yet again why he is one of the highest rated managerial talents in world football during his 22-game stint as boss at Stamford Bridge, writes Richard Williams in the Guardian. And he may have been surprised by just how strong a bond he formed in west London during his short tenure which ended in FA Cup glory on Saturday at Wembley.

"Hiddink came into English football with a smile and left it on Saturday amid laughter - from fans to whose grateful chants he responded with a courtly bow, from players delighted by his champagne-soaked, cigar-puffing pas de deux with Roman Abramovich in the Wembley dressing room, and from journalists who were in stitches when he responded with a lingering, irony-tinged "Okaayyyyy..." to a suggestion that his little Chelsea adventure had not, after all, been about money.

"The 62-year-old," continues Williams, displays a very "Dutch straightforwardness" about how he does what he does primarily for the money, as his successful reigns across the globe at South korea and Australia have shown - "Those with the ability to respond when a billionaire asks for a favour know that they are not likely to go unrewarded, after all."

But with Chelsea, who had been in turmoil following Luiz Felipe Scolari's sacking and a ruin of poor results, Hiddink seems to have found a different challenge - "It had become, the departing manager continued, more than just a caretaker job". Chelsea was a "real club, a warm-hearted club", said Hiddink, and he found a group of stars there who were willing to let him manage them out of the mire.

"Saturday's victory may have had another, more personal significance. For this was Hiddink's first success in a domestic competition outside his native country, with his fifth non-Dutch club," concludes Williams. "Despite his achievement in taking outsiders such as South Korea, Australia and Russia to the later stages of major tournaments, he has never actually won anything with an international side." ·