The Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has revealed that he could have been in the home dugout for his side's visit to the City of Manchester Stadium tomorrow. The Brazilian said today that he turned down an offer from Manchester City to become their manager before moving to Stamford Bridge in the summer.
Scolari confirmed that City, whose takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group last month has made them richer than Chelsea, had approached him when the club was owned by Thaksin Shinawatra.
"Yes, they offered it [the manager's job] to me," he said. "It was a very good offer but at that time I was with Portugal and I said I needed time to think. They came to Portugal and they talked to me about their ideas for the team in the next three or four years."
Scolari decided instead to succeed Avram Grant at Chelsea, with the announcement being made in June while Portugal were still playing the Euro 2008 finals. At that time City were in the process of finding a replacement for Sven-Goran Eriksson and were eventually able to lure Mark Hughes away from Blackburn.
City's new-found wealth saw the club come close to landing Dimitar Berbatov from Spurs on transfer deadline day - and pip Chelsea to the signature of Real Madrid's Robinho for a British record £32m.
But Scolari has warned the Premier League's newest ultra-rich owners that it could take 10 years to turn City into a major force. "You need results, you need to win games," he said. "It is not just about buying one or two players to become the best club in England and the world, you need to win.
"It is a project that is not for one or two years but maybe 10 or 15, but it is very good for England and for football that more clubs have projects to get bigger and get into the top 10 in the world. Manchester are starting to move towards this."
The focus tomorrow will be on Robinho, but Scolari was reluctant to appear too disappointed that he would not be playing for Chelsea.
"He is one more player for Manchester City, nothing different. Robinho is one player who I said was very good," he said. ""He was in Brazil, then with Real Madrid and now Manchester City. He is a player for Manchester City - it's finished."
Chelsea have a shortage in midfield for the trip to the north-west with Michael Essien and Michael Ballack out injured and John Obi Mikel not fully fit. Didier Drogba should makes his long-awaited comeback following a knee injury but is unlikely to be asked to play 90 minutes, while Joe Cole received a cut to the head during England's 4-1 victory in Croatia in midweek and could therefore miss out.
