It's no surprise that Roman Abramovich has secured Guus Hiddink as his Chelsea coach - only that it took so long.

It was with the help of Abramovich's financial backing that Russia were able to lure him to become their national coach in 2006 and they have already been well rewarded by reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2008.

The duo have been in contact since 2005, when Hiddink was impressing as manager of PSV Eindhoven, and it was no surprise that he ended up getting the national job.

As the former Real Madrid coach revealed in a column for Dutch newspaper Der Telegraaf two years ago, he said: "I met him five times. Four times in London and once secretly at the PSV training complex.

"What struck me about Abramovich was his supportive way of thinking. He is not the type to demand things but he is interested in how you would do things. The more clarity you can give him, the more he appreciates that.

"And despite his enormous wealth, he will never abuse his position or status. He is a very relaxed man, highly committed in sports in general and football in particular.

"But he is not so much interested in the technicalities of the execution. He is mainly interested in how to transform resources into action."