Chelsea were at the brim of relegation when I took over- Guus Hiddink

Chelsea’s carertaker manager Guus Hiddink has revealed for the first time how close the club were to being relegated when he first arrived, claiming the side was “drowning” and that he feared they would not survive.

The Dutchman was appointed on December 19, with the club just two places and one point off the relegation zone after a woeful start to the season that saw Jose Mourinho fired.

The Dutchman has since steadied Chelsea to mid-table stability, but he admits he was deeply worried when he first arrived at Stamford Bridge – admitting that some of his players were too complacent.

But Hiddink says that the situation was “desperate” and far more serious when he first arrived than was realised at the time.

“Is there danger when you are there, in 16 or 17 position? Yeah, because you must be very careful when the water is here that you don’t get drowned,” said Hiddink, pointing to the top of his neck.

“You see now a big club, as Newcastle are, the whole season fighting to get out. It is difficult because if you are in that situation you have to break a little bit and what I had to do was maybe get them more confident, on one hand, and maybe on the other hand some were a bit complacent. We had to break some moves in there.

“I came here in difficult circumstances. It is easy for me to say: “it’s the past, they were not getting a point”. I am not a person to blame anyone.

“I had to restore the confidence once more in this team and club. I am happy the team reacted when we were in a desperate situation.

“From there on I am satisfied with the reaction of the team, not getting all the results. I would have loved to get into the next round of the Champions League, I would have loved to go into the FA Cup final.”