Why have you decided to take on this caretaker role?
It's a pretty easy decision to make. This is my club. In terms of my playing career and having coached here before. I have a lot of emotions and feelings towards the club. I'm also a very practical person. When you become a manager, you understand that you don't manage the club you say is yours forever. I've been on a different path since I left Chelsea but to come back at time where the club have asked me to come and take the role, that's the most important thing, but also with the belief that I can come and help the cause in this period until the end of the season. I'm delighted to get the opportunity and I want to be thankful for that, for the people that have decided to give me an opportunity. I'm confident in myself, have a good understanding of the squad, of course I've worked with a lot of them before, but also the training ground, the stadium, the fans, what Chelsea fans want and I'll do my utmost in this period to give them what they want with my own hard work.
Have you been told that this is strictly until the end of the season regardless of what happens on the pitch?
No, but I think the role and the explanation of my role speaks for itself in the period that I'm here for. On that term, I'm not getting anywhere ahead of myself. I want to do the best possible role that I can impact the club in the best way in this period. After that, we'll see what happens.
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Are obviously when Roberto Di Matteo lead the team to Champions League glory, he stayed on. Is that an incentive?
I don't think it's worth speaking about past moments. Roberto did an incredible job and stayed on - that's a different part of Chelse's history and for me, in simple terms it won't be my decision as such, so again I don't want to jump forward to that. I understand I'm probably going to get asked that question a lot and asked a series of questions. I've got my eyes wide open, I expect those questions. The important thing for me is to park that to the side and focus on the job in hand. I'm very excited to do that along with the staff that I will be working with and the players I will be working with.
I was at the game on Tuesday night, I know there's a lot of talent in this squad, not just the players that played on Tuesday but generally. I'm excited to work with that talent and help them.
Two key areas - how do you manage the size of the squad and the goalscoring problems? Somewhere you think you can improve?
I hope so. Modern football has big squads and I understand Chelsea might be the top end of that. I remember being here before and I had lots of difficult decisions of really good players and good people that you have to tell, you're not involved this week. Part of the job is to try and manage that situation and make every player feel included. Maybe in the beginning, with it being a short term, that's a positive thing for me because everyone can have a clean slate as such, and show in training and be competitive in training and the competitive nature can crossover onto the pitch. That's a good thing about the squad, you can push each other and try and manage that.
In terms of goalscoring, there's no genius answer for a coach to explain to you about scoring goals to a point. You can set up the structure of a team and work to get your team in a dominant area of the pitch a lot. We saw that against Liverpool, a lot of good chances. All I'll be here is to work repetition on the training ground, to work in terms of speaking to the players. Fortunately, it was a big part of my game. That's not me comparing it. It's just understanding the mindset to take that agressive, cold-hearted nature to want to score goals. I know the players will have that, it's just a case of trying to direct that in the right way.
What have you made of Mason Mount's situation with the club? How much influence could you have on such situations?
I don't know enough about it to talk about it and I think it would be wrong for me to delve into anything other than, Mason has always been a fantastic player for me from my days at Derby, the impact he had there to when I came back to Chelsea. It's with absolute pleasure that I've watched him amongst others that I coached in that period, Reece James, Tammy Abraham and Tomori to have gone on to be huge players here or elsewhere. That's great but with Mason I know he's had a few slight injury problems, so I understand, it will be important to speak to him. I know what I get from Mason, so I just want to see him perform on the pitch. We have a good relationship so we'll talk a lot, I think he's a huge player for Chelsea and has been in his time here, so I look forward to talking to him more.
Process for picking the team, tight turnaround for Wolves?
I've been thinking about it a lot this morning, speaking to people who are going to be helping me to do this job so I have my idea about where I want to go. I watched the team, so credit to Bruno who took the team, credit to Graham Potter who I don't know that well but everything I see about him, he's a good man and a very good coach and sometimes for whatever reason things don't align, don't work, whatever, I've been in that situation personally. There's nothing that I will do that will look backwards other than with a view to how we move forward. I obviously have my own ideas.
Can you confirm your coaching staff?
I can't at this point.
What is the target?
I think to attempt to instil the highest level of confidence I can with the group. For them to exert and show a level of passion of playing for Chelsea and an urgency and energy in their game. Those are principles that I really want to talk to players about. In terms of targets we want to win as many games as we can. It's the simplest answer your going to get. It's more complicated than that but at the same time I think there are big games ahead of us. Premier League is hard, Champions League is of course hard. We have to have a belief in the players we have in this squad. I've got a huge belief in them from the outside and I'll tell them that today. It's how we can take them in the right direction and of course we want to win games.
Didn't get the chance to take Chelsea into the knockout stages, now your chance to experience that?
It's certainly a chance with the two games we have coming up. I'm not naive, Real Madrid is a huge football club, the current Champions League winners, fantastic team. I'm not going to sit here and make all these crazy...talk about that and what might be in that difficult semi-final and then the final. That's far away and my job is to go step by step. Of course, having played a part and coached in the Champions League here for two years. The first where we got through the group and lost to Bayern Munich, the second year we got through the group well and of course I left and the club went onto a fantastic achievement. Those things are in the past for me but I'm excited fighting in that competition again, it's the best.
Message for the fans?
I'm very thankful for the ones that are delighted. If there are some that are not delighted they can know that I will do my utmost to get the team to where I want it to be and give them a team that they're proud of. I don't think I need, I don't want this to sound too casual, but I don't think I need to speak too much about my relationship with Chelsea fans. I played here for 13 years, I coached here, I've had a lot of incredible moments and some difficult moments because that's football. From the moment I joined this club, many years ago, I can't remember the year almost, they've been a huge support to me and I'm forever thankful for that. If I can be here, if I can help this club and we can come together and we can feel those days at Stamford Bridge and nights at Stamford Bridge and feel an energy in this period of the season - that's what I'm here to try and do.
What is it going to be like to step out at Stamford Bridge again?
Really exciting, really exciting. I was there on Tuesday night and it's the first time I've been back since I left, for diffierent reasons. It was an amazing buzz to be back at Stamford Bridge. My seat will be slightly different against Brighton but at the same time I can't take away the basic feeling of excitement inside for that. I'll be very proud. I'm proud to manage this club, it's something I don't need to harp on about too much but I look forward to the opportunity.
Can you explain how it all came about? Was it a surprise?
Of course, a surprise in terms of you never know a decision the club is going to make. There has been lots of change in the Premier League this year and you're aware of that. II've been particularly enjoying my period of time at home. It's one of the things as a manager and coach where the game can be fluid at times that when you get periods at home you can really throw yourself into your family, and my children and wife etc and things that I probably had to put to the side by being up in Everton for a year. So that was a surprise because I've been pretty happy in that position.
But when I spoke to Paul and Laurence in the last 24-48 hours and they put forward what this and what it ended up being, for me it was obviously a decision, that was not simple, Chelsea Football Club can't be a simple decision, you have to take into account personally, what it means to your heart and what it means to your head but that decision obviously came.
How big is this challenge?
It is a big challenge but aren't they all? That's not just my own world, coming to Chelsea the first time with a lot of young players and the transfer ban, Everton everyone saw. That's my story, every manager will have that story, everything is a challenge, we see how the Premier League is. I have complete sympathy for all managers that maybe lose jobs, move on and also congratulations to managers that have success because I know the work.
I'm ready to put my work into this challenge in front of me and take it day by day. I've got a clear idea of what I want to do in this period but the biggest thing for me is to be able to speak to the players, feel them out on the grass and to try and impact them
Surprised where Chelsea are?
I don't think football can surprise you like that because it's such a competitive league. I don't think it's my position to comment on the whys and hows the club is where it is now. It's my position to try and find the right energy and results to try and move us in a more positive direction. This is Chelsea Football Club we know we don't want to be in 11th position but the reality is that is where we are. There's been change, there's been transition, there's been change in the squad, there's a lot of talent in the squad and it's very clear when you look around the Premier League and it's history those things take a bit of time. Everyone will try and work in the right direction. Some things have to be understandable but somet things you want to get there quickly because you want your work to show. If I can play my part in that then great.
Did you ever think you'd be back and is there an element of unfinished business?
I didn't think I'd never be in this seat. I'm a confident person, I want to work hard and I understand the game and this club I have a big connection with. If I'm honest it wasn't my thought that one day I'd be back as Chelsea manager because my job is to be as good a manager as I can be. It would be useless to sit there and think about what might be down the line. So it wasn't in the first part of my kmind, no.
In terms of unfinished business, I don't quite see it like that. I was here for that period of time, I look back on it with really good feelings about the positives and when I reflected, all the things I thought I maybe could have that a little bit better, I think most managers are the same. Now I'm here in a different period, a different era and I just want to do as well as I can. Unfinished business sounds a little bit Hollywood, it's like you're looking for a great line. I want to work and I want to help this club as much as I can.
A player when interim managers such as Roberto and Guus came in, is there anything you experience from them that you can take?
Maybe. I think I've got real fond and good memories of both managers and we had some more. In terms of the success under Robbie, the Champions League, I saw how he effected the group and the personal relationships he had and the football instincts he had. In Guus' own way similarly he had great personal touch, great football brain. So those little things that I remember from those period of course I will try and take them because this is a job that is in hand, it's in front of me now so I'd be stupid not to rely on somethings I felt were good but I also have to do things I think are right now.
How important to be in European football even if not top four?
It's really imporant but at the same time we're in a situation now where we'd all love to get there but the reality is we have to win games to give ourselves a fighting chance of being there. I really don't want to go there at this point. I understand your point because Chelsea has a history of being in Europe but at the same time, whatever challenges have been this season, I'm not here to talk about, I'm not here to go what maximum impact can I have from now until the end of the season. If I set high bars for myself now, they would be useless anyway. It's more important about how I work.
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