For me this man is a like a rougher version of our former manager which will no doubt still endear him to the Stamford Bridge faithful.

Scolari’s has his more quirky side but I don’t imagine all of his methods will be used in SW6. 

For example, the catholic religion is very important to him and he has put up pictures of the Virgin Mary in the Portuguese dressing room and prayed in unison with his players before a match – I’m just trying to picture the faces of Terry and Lampard in that situation shortly before running out to take the field against Middlesbrough on a wet December evening!

On the more philosophical side he claims to base a lot of his strategy on “The Art of War”, a treatise on military strategy by Sun Tzu, who was a Chinese general in the 6th century BC. ‘If you know yourself and your enemy, you can come out of a hundred battles without danger’.  He has in the past given copies of this book to his players.

How about the use of a female sports psychologist?  Scolari has used one for the last 10 years and she goes where he goes – providing him with summaries on the mental make-up of each player in his squad to help him motivate them.

Starting to get a bit concerned?  Well here’s another side to him (and don’t tell me you can’t see Mourinho saying very similar things?!):

"The club that hires me will become winners, the club that already is it will be it even more.” (On coaching a European club side). 

“Pele knows nothing about football. His analysis turns out to be always wrong. If you plan on winning a title, do the opposite of what Pele says.”

“If we have to play ugly to reach the objective, we will play ugly. What’s the point of a cup? To be champions”

"I didn't listen to 150 million people in Brazil, why should I listen to 7 million here?" (Upon once being criticised as Portuguese coach).

"Jesus said we should turn the other cheek. Unfortunately, Figo is not Jesus Christ" (on Figo head butting Mark van Bommel in June 2006).

“I believe firmly in astrology. Since I was a kid, the stars told me I was a winner.”

"When the ball goes to his feet it doesn't cry. When it goes to my
feet it cries" (on the difference between Zinedine Zidane and Scolari himself).

"My problem is I'm stupid, I tell the truth while others lie".

Then we have the more volatile “Big Phil”:

“He was going to hit [Ricardo] Quaresma and I defended him.”  (On why he threw a punch at Serbian defender Ivica Dragutinovic).

"Who was to blame out there was the referee. Two metres offside!" (Scolari further justifying the Dragutinoviç incident).

"I'm not perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, and I lost my head here" (Calming down a bit now – or because the Portuguese Football Federation insisted he made an apology!). 

“I note the names of every critic in a book. . . I’m not interested in suing. I like to sort things out my way.  If someone talks about my private life I’ll give them a good punching.” (On newspaper hacks digging into his personal life).

“I’ll wait for you outside, mate” (Scolari to a referee who sent him off from Brazil’s bench in 2000).

And then the more off the wall aspect to his personality: 

"Any individual who cannot control this aspect of his life is not a human being but an irrational animal." (On players indulging in sex before a game)."

He tortured a lot but there is no illiteracy in Chile" (Scolari on General Pinochet's leadership – not so clever that one perhaps).

I don’t think there can be any doubt that the English media will do everything in their power to provoke Scolari knowing that he is likely to provide them with headlines for weeks on end if he reacts the way they want him to. 

They don’t like us and will do all they can to detract from Chelsea, the new boys who’ve broken up the cosy cartel the old guard of clubs created for themselves with the advent of the Premier League.

I’m sure our PR and Communications dept must be well prepared for this and we have to hope that they will also prepare Scolari for it.  He wasn’t ready for the England job:

“I don't want this situation involving England because in two days during which I was not coach, I never agreed to anything, my life was invaded. My privacy was totally under siege”.

Sparks will fly and it could get ugly - but I’ve a feeling we’re going to love him all the more for it!

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