Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay says club are ‘a week or two away’ from appointing new manager

Guus Hiddink (Turkey manager)

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Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay believes the club can improve on last season and win trophies with a new manager at the helm, which he hopes can take place before the end of the month.

Gourlay has begun the search for Carlo Ancleotti’s successor following his dismissal at the end of the season, with Turkey boss Guus Hiddink heavily linked with the role that he had on a caretaker basis in 2009.

Hiddink led Chelsea to the FA Cup and semi-finals of the Champions League and is the favourite to take over at Stamford Bridge next season.

Gourlay is reluctant to reveal much information while in Asia for Chelsea’s “Here to play, Here to stay” initiative, but believes the Blues will have a new boss in place soon.

“As far as the manager is concerned, the process is going well,” he said.

“But now is not the time for me to comment on who the next manager is going to be. We will announce things in the usual way but hopefully in the next week or two, we’ll be in a position to announce who our new coach will be.

“I don’t think it’s right to comment at this stage. I don’t want to create any speculation, we’ll make an announcement when we’re ready and we’ll see the new coach when we arrive next month.”

Chelsea failed to win a trophy last season but Gourlay insists there will not be many new faces in at the Bridge next season.

He added: “As far as players are concerned, the basis of the team will be the same for next season.

“There may be an introduction of two or three players.

“We’ve identified key players that we’d like to bring to the team, players who can strengthen the team but of course we’ll probably have to wait until the new coach is in place.

“It’s a big season for us coming up. Things didn’t go as well as we hoped last season and plans are very much in place for next season to be back winning trophies.”