Gianfranco Zola: Former Chelsea Legend, now new Chelsea assistant manager
SteemSports Presenter:@rickie
SteemSports Editor:@scottybuckets
Ex-Chelsea player and club legend, Gianfranco Zola, has returned to Stamford Bridge in the capacity of an assistant manager to Chelsea’s newly appointed boss, the 59-year old Italian, Maurizio Sarri.
Gianfranco Zola who last managed Birmingham City in the English Championship between December 2016 and April 2017, before resigning after a poor run of form, has gone straight to work with the new Chelsea managerial team.
Zola was a sensational forward during his time at the Stamford Bridge club. Between the period of 1996 and 2003 when he represented Chelsea, he helped the club to win several trophies.
His time at Chelsea yielded one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1997–98), one UEFA Super Cup (1998), two FA Cups (1996–97, 1999–2000), one Football League Cup (1997–98), and one FA Charity Shield (2000).
His managerial career has been less than impressive when compared to his fantastic playing days at Chelsea where he became a club legend, with a cult following, due to his mercurial and phenomenal display on the pitch.
As a manager, Gianfranco Zola has had stints with West Ham United, Watford and Italian Serie A side, Cagliari. However, Zola’s time at these clubs were relatively short due to poor performances and poor results.
His most recent managerial appointment was in 2016, when he was appointed manager of Birmingham City on 16th December to replace Gary Rowett who had been sacked by the club earlier that day. He joined Birmingham City on a two-and-a-half-year contract.
But just about four months later, precisely on the 17th of April 2017, the 52-year old Zola resigned as manager of Birmingham after a 2–0 home defeat to Burton Albion left his side just three points above the relegation zone.
At the time there were just three matches remaining in the Championship season, and during the 24-matches he oversaw as manager of the club, Birmingham City had only managed to win just twice.
With the appointment of Maurizio Sarri as new Chelsea boss last week, Zola who played 312 times for Chelsea and scored 80 goals in that period, has now joined Chelsea’s backroom staff on their pre-season tour of Australia as Sarri’s assistant manager.
Zola who is current with the team in Australia for their pre-season tour had said that it would be great to be successful with the new manager, Maurizio Sarri. He also stated that he intended to give his best, even as he did in the past when he was a player. <hr< Thank you for following @steemsports and you can find me @rickie
welcome a Chelsea legend. lets hope he makes a postivie impact!
Yea, for the sake of lots of Chelsea fans I hope he impacts on the team quickly too @shifty0g
Zola is a straight legend! My favourite goal of his is from a corner, when he ran to the front post and back heeled it in! Magical! It was against Norwich
I agree with you @sunsethunter. He was a mercurial player in his days. Whether he'd impact on the team as a coach remains to be seen.
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