Hiddink still haunted by Netherlands sacking

Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink admitted he is still frustrated at his sacking as Netherlands manager as he defended his recent coaching record.

The 69-year-old has replaced the sacked Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge and will take charge until the end of the season having previously had a spell at the helm in 2009.

At his first media conference, Hiddink was asked whether Chelsea fans should be concerned by his recent failures at international level, prompting him to defend his spells with Russia and Turkey, while speaking about his disappointment at being sacked by Netherlands - who ultimately failed to qualify for Euro 2016 - in June.

"Regarding the last job with Holland of course they had a very good result in the last World Cup in Brazil [finishing third] and then you get all kinds of expectation and a little bit of a hangover," he said.

"Unfortunately – and I regret it myself very much – I could not finish that job because the general director decided to quit my job halfway through qualification when we were in third position. 

"To be honest I was very disappointed about that decision because we were in the driving seat to go into the last three or four games and to get it done. So I could not finish the job and that was disappointing for me.

"You have to analyse every country. I think with Russia we did a very good European championship [in 2008], we had a lack of one goal [against Slovenia in the play-off] for World Cup qualification and it was a tough group with the opponents we played – even England found that [against Slovenia]. 

"With Turkey it was the same - we had to play Germany with just one qualifying [from the group] and the second going into the play-offs, and then [we lost to] Croatia. Then you are very close but, nevertheless, the fact is there was no qualification."