Hiddink talks of MCFC interest

It's no secret that last December, when considering sacking Mark Hughes, we approached Guus Hiddink to discuss taking over. The story was run in the Daily Telegraph at the time, and made some waves. Yesterday Guus Hiddink spoke publicly about our interest in him for the first time:

"We didn't have talks but I knew there was some interest," said Hiddink.

"It's a big club, a club with history, also a club with money," said Hiddink, who has also worked at PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid and Fenerbahce.

"It was a difficult decision because I had the experience of (working) more (with) clubs and I had the experience, of course, last year with Chelsea, which I enjoyed very much."

Interesting stuff. All it does is confirm something that existed as rumour before. But it does underline that the decision to sack Hughes was taken independently of that to pick Roberto Mancini, and that Mancini was not necessarily first choice. Which itself demonstrates just how important the board saw finishing fourth this season as in terms of the club's long term progress.