Luiz Felipe Scolari
Replacing Avram Grant was Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had become famous in recent years for knocking the England national team out of major tournaments. Scolari was a World Cup winner with Brazil, and had also done good work with Portugal. After knocking England out of three consecutive international tournaments, the FA had approached him to take over as their manager, though he is understood to have rejected them.
This attention in England with hindsight perhaps over-estimated his actual abilities as a manager, as his short-lived spell with Chelsea was not a successful one. He lasted only until February, with his team looking poor defensively and well out of the title race. Many cited his lack of experience at club level, and many Chelsea players seemed to go backwards under his training methods. His main signings of Deco and Jose Boswingwa also proved to be relatively poor ones, as neither properly settled in English football.
Final grade: D
This very short spell in charge is one of the more understandable ones of the Abramovich era. Although it is good to give managers time, Scolari was clearly the wrong choice for Chelsea and it was a wise decision to part with him when they did, as things quickly picked up under his successor.