Chelsea legend advises Conte to look for other jobs

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Bengaluru, February 14: Chelsea legend Ruud Gullit says he'd be keeping an eye out for another job if he were in the place of current Blues manager Antonio Conte.

The Dutch great reckons the board's failure to back Conte has seen him lose his control over some players and that has eventually led to poor results.

The Dutch icon, who was named in the PFA team of the year in 1996 as a player and won the FA Cup as manager of Chelsea in 1997, says the Blues lack of support for the manager - whoever he may be - is a "never ending story".

He told SunSport: "Hearing all these rumours all the time and nobody at the club ever says 'no that's not true', there must be something.

"If I was Conte I would already be looking around, if there's an alternative I would be interested. Nobody at the club is saying it's not true.

"Obviously that's not a guarantee [of him staying], they may say 'we trust him' - although that's even worse!"

Conte remarkably led Chelsea to the Premier League title in his debut campaign last term, but is now on the brink at Stamford Bridge with the Blues already 22 points behind Manchester City.

The former Italy manager replaced Jose Mourinho, who was sacked seven months after winning the title in 2015, while another iconic manager Carlo Ancelotti lasted less than a year after doing the Double in 2010.

None of the managers in the Roman Abramovich era have been given time once things turned sour.

Even in the pre-Roman days, former Chairman Ken Bates was known for lacking patience - Gullit himself was a casualty of that policy.

Gullit says that the lack of backing for Conte has seen him lose his control of the squad.

The former AC Milan star added: "If there's a confrontation with the coach and it hasn't been ended by the board, the players think 'ah [we can say what we want]', especially the players that don't play.

"All of a sudden your authority is gone. It happens because nobody at the club is saying it's not true.

"If they were to say 'we love Conte, we're going to stick with him', nobody could say that.

"But what's happened with all the previous coaches is that no one (at the club) says that.

"All the players, especially those that don't play, think 'he won't be here next year, let's wait for a new one', where they will get a better chance and will play. For a coach it's the worst thing that can happen."